daytrading july 31 afternoon, page-98

3:15pm: The best performing stock on the ASX200 this month was Billabong with a gain of 186.7 per cent. The Australian surfwear company, which had seen its market value slump after a series of takeover talks, received a vote of confidence from investors after a $294 million refinancing deal was announced in mid-July.

Diversified energy firm Linc Energy was the second-best performer, with a rise of 97.56 per cent, while Energy World Corporation was third with a lift of 51.28 per cent. Other mining and energy stocks - such as Oceangold, Beadell Resources, Evolution Mining, Medusa Mining - made up the rest of the top 10.

The worst performer was salary packager McMillian Shakespeare, which shed just under half of its value after the federal government announced plans to abolish the fringe benefits tax for employer-provided cars.

The three strongest performing sectors in July were materials (9.59 per cent), energy (6.33 per cent) and financials (5.79 per cent), boosted by a lift in oil and iron ore prices.

"You've seen the miners bounce pretty hard off a heavily sold-down level, helped by the recent buoyancy in the iron ore price," UBS's head of strategy David Cassidy said.

"There was a bit of a relief rally [following] the build-up in negative sentiment towards China through to June."

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/markets-live/markets-live-stocks-lose-some-steam-20130731-2qy3c.html#ixzz2abMLTZVY