Queensland Gas QGC was the overall best performing Australian company taking in a 34.5 percent increase in its share price this week. For the past week (week 6 for 2008) on the Australian sharemarket, among the best performing stocks were a mixture of metal & mineral, telecommunication & media, steel and coal seam gas companies: Fortescue (FMG), Telstra (TCS), OneSteel (OST), Queensland Gas (QGC), Arrow Energy (AOE). These best performing stocks for week 3 recorded between 5.3 percent to 34.5 percent for their gain by the end of the trading week. The ASX 200 index illustrated much higher gains compared to the ASX 100 index for the top 10 gainers.

Fortescue, the metal and mineral export company with a market capitalization of $20 billion was the best performer for the ASX 100 index seeing 15.6 percent rise, adding $1.02 and closing at $7.52. Telstra Corp, the telecommunications and media giant secured the second place gaining 16 cents (+5.6%) and closing at $3.01. OneSteel was the next in line adding 36 cents (+5.3%) and closing at $7.08. On the ASX 200 index, Queensland Gas, the coal seam gas company which is expected to enter the national electricity market by early 2009 secured the first position seeing 34.5% rise, adding $1.18 and closing at $4.60 at the end of the trading week. Arrow Energy, another coal seam gas company was next in the line gaining 55 cents (+29.5%) and closing at $2.39. Fortescue came third in the ASX 200 index but had a clear gaining gap compared to the first two. It is clear that increasing demand for coal seam gas has made these two companies the best gainers for week 6.