Gold stocks fall 8.5% on profit-taking
Northern Star falls 8.8%, biggest drop since April 2025
BHP, Rio Tinto decline 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively
Woodside gains 3.5% on production forecast hike
By Atharva Singh and Rajasik Mukherjee
Oct 22 (Reuters) – Australian equities pulled back from a record close on Wednesday after a sharp fall in gold prices stalled a weeks-long rally in precious metals miners, although gains in Woodside Energy and banks limited the losses.
The S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.7% to 9,030.00, a day after notching an all-time closing high of 9,094.70.
Gold miners nosedived 8.5% in their steepest drop in more than six months, as investors unwound their overbought positions to lock in profits after a blistering rally in gold prices drove the sub-index to record highs.
“Gold producers are selling off sharply despite prices being at the level they were on October 13, just nine days ago,” said Ben Richards, co-portfolio manager at Seneca Financial Solutions.
“It looks like investors are taking a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ approach, especially given that gold prices have rallied hard in the last 18 months.”
Northern Star Resources, Australia’s top listed gold miner, tumbled 8.8% to mark its biggest drop since April 2025, while smaller peer Evolution Mining slid 10.3%.
The gold sub-index had more than doubled in value this year by Tuesday’s close, with most of the gains coming since August, indicative of a rush into the safe-haven metal owing to U.S. monetary policy easing, and trade and geopolitical risks.
The rout in gold miners also dragged down the broader mining sub-index by 3.4%. BHP Group and Rio Tinto slipped 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively, while Fortescue fell 0.3% ahead of its first-quarter production results on Thursday.
Elsewhere, energy stocks rose 1.3%, buoyed by gains in sector heavyweight Woodside Energy after the company raised its production forecast for fiscal 2025, citing continued strong performance across its assets.
Financials ticked higher, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia advancing 0.3%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5% to close at 13,306.44 points. (Reporting by Atharva Singh and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) ))
