Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) shot up 17 cents, or 22%, to close at 94 cents. The mid-cap gold miner expects to produce 75-80,000 ounces of gold from its Paulsens gold mine in calendar year 2012 at a cash cost of between $600 to $650 per ounce. The company is also ramping up production to achieve 200,000 ounces per year. Northern Star is debt free and had $84m in cash and bullion at the end of March 2012 – combined with a low cost of production, this company could be one to watch.

Ivanhoe Australia Limited (ASX: IVA) popped 21% to close at 68.5 cents. The company announced on 15^th June that it made its first shipment of copper and gold from its Osborne Copper-Gold project in Queensland to an Asian smelter, valued at around $20m. This is an important step for the company as it faces significant costs to start up its Merlin project. Merlin is the highest-grade molybdenum and rhenium project in the world. As an interesting aside, Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) currently owns 51% of Ivanhoe.

Qantas Airways limited (ASX: QAN) surged 18.5 cents to close at $1.155, a climb of 19%, as investors may believe the company has been oversold. There is also rising speculation that the company could be a takeover target. Qantas recently hired Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) to fend off unwanted private-equity bids.

According to a report on Bloomberg, Qantas is trading at a 61% discount to its $5.6 billion in net tangible assets, and by that measure is undervalued by as much as $3 billion. However, what that net tangible assets value doesn't take into account, is the more than $4 billion of debt that Qantas holds off its balance sheet, as at the end of December 2011. While the shares might look cheap on one measure, it doesn't necessarily mean the stock would make a good investment, and it pays to look deeper than just the company's reported net tangible assets.

BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) rose 4.5 cents, or 17%, to 30.5 cents, as the company said it had no plans to raise funds. BlueScope last raised $600m of equity in December 2011. The company is working on freeing up to $500m in working capital after deciding to close one of its two blast furnaces in Port Kembla, NSW, and is on track to sell its US Metl-Span business for US$117m before the end of June 2012.

Coal of Africa Limited (ASX: CZA) climbed 8 cents to 62 cents – a jump of 15%, as the stock continues to move away from a 52 week low of 47 cents set at the end of May 2012. The company announced last week that it had significantly increased its estimated resources of coal, thanks to acquisitions of shares in companies previously held by Rio Tinto Minerals Development Ltd and Kwezi Mining.

Ainsworth Game Technology (ASX: AGI) rose 24 cents to close at $2.01, a 14% jump. Shares in the company have now risen by more than 350% in the last six months. The poker machine maker has been on a tear since producing its first ever profit in 2011. Despite the price rise, the stock is still trading on an undemanding P/E of 8.5, and consensus forecasts for 2012 put the stock on a prospective P/E of 8.0.

If you're in the market for some less risky, high yielding ASX shares, look no further than Secure Your Future with 3 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks. In this free report, we've put together our best ideas for investors who are looking for solid companies with high dividends and good growth potential. Click here now to find out the names of our three favourite income ideas. But hurry – the report is free for only a limited time.

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Motley Fool contributor Mike King doesn't own shares in any companies mentioned. The Motley Fool's purpose is to help the world invest, better. Take Stock is The Motley Fool's free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Click here now to request your free subscription, whilst it's still available. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

The post 6 stocks that rose more than 14% last week appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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These three stocks tumbled by more than 4%.

Aquarius Platinum Limited (ASX: AQP) dropped 7% to close at $1.20. Aquarius' share price has fallen steadily from a high of over $5 in June 2011, as the price of platinum continues to fall. Platinum is currently trading around US$1,405 per ounce, down from a high of US$1,659 just two months ago. A conveyor belt fire at the company's partly owned Zimbabwe mine last week could also affect platinum production.

National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) closed at $22.48, down 5.6% as the stock went ex-dividend. What this means is that investors buying shares in NAB from yesterday are not entitled to the 90 cent dividend that the bank has recently declared. Therefore, the market adjusts the share price to account for the lack of dividend. That's an important point for investors who buy a stock for its dividend. It's not a free lunch – there's usually a roughly commensurate fall in the share price.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) fell 4.4% to close at $4.62. BHP Billiton Limited's (ASX: BHP) chief executive, Marius Kloppers said that the big miner would not be signing off on any new big projects in the next six months and possibly for the next eighteen months to two years, as the company takes a wait and watch approach. Concerns are building (sorry!) that China's steel industry is at over-capacity already and the recent approval for another two steel plants will make the situation worse. This comes as bad news for Australian iron ore miners, including Fortescue.

Other large losers included Elders Limited (ASX: ELD) down 7.5% to 18.5 cents, Coal of Africa Limited (ASX: CZA) down 12.1% to 51 cents, Tap Oil Limited (ASX: TAP) down 8.8% to 67 cents and Becton Property Group (ASX: BEC) down a massive 22.6% as the company struggles to refinance its debts and continue trading.

If you're in the market for some less risky, high yielding ASX shares, look no further than Secure Your Future with 3 Rock-Solid Dividend Stocks. In this free report, we've put together our best ideas for investors who are looking for solid companies with high dividends and good growth potential. Click here now to find out the names of our three favourite income ideas. But hurry – the report is free for only a limited time.

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Motley Fool contributor Mike King owns shares in BHP. The Motley Fool's purpose is to help the world invest, better. Take Stock is The Motley Fool's free investing newsletter. Packed with stock ideas and investing advice, it is essential reading for anyone looking to build and grow their wealth in the years ahead. Click here now to request your free subscription, whilst it's still available. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

The post 3 ASX stocks that got thumped yesterday appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• ASX 200 coal stock slips on soft quarterly update
• Are Orthocell shares a buy after crashing 7% yesterday?
• While the market worried about war and AI, these 2 ASX small caps kept climbing
• Buy, hold, sell: Collins Foods, Domino's, and Guzman Y Gomez shares
• 2 ASX growth stocks to buy now and hold until 2036