Sydney, Feb 26, 2026, 17:34 (AEDT) — Market closed.
- Northern Star Resources ended down 2.5% on Thursday, reversing part of this week’s rally.
- Gold held near a three-week high as investors tracked tariffs, geopolitics and the U.S. dollar.
- Next on the calendar: Northern Star’s March dividend timetable and an April quarterly update.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (NST.AX) shares fell 2.5% to close at A$29.62 on Thursday, after trading as high as A$30.69 in the session. The stock’s 52-week range runs from A$15.30 to A$30.93. (Investing)
The late pullback matters because the stock has been moving with bullion, and gold has been twitchy again. Headlines on tariffs and geopolitics have been enough to shift risk appetite, and miners tend to take the brunt of that.
Spot gold edged up 0.4% to $5,192.28 an ounce and had hit a more than three-week high on Tuesday, Reuters reported. “Price action reflects a re-pricing of fresh policy (tariff) uncertainty, geopolitical concerns, and a subdued dollar,” said Christopher Wong, a strategist at OCBC. (Reuters)
JPMorgan, in a note dated Wednesday, said it expects central bank and investor demand to push gold to $6,300 an ounce by end-2026. It also raised its long-term gold forecast to $4,500 an ounce. (Reuters)
On the local tape, the benchmark ASX 200 pushed to another all-time high during Thursday’s session, though miners eased from earlier peaks, Market Index wrote in a live market update. It said the Materials index had notched a run of record highs, helped by moves across commodities including gold. (Market Index)
Other gold names were mixed. Evolution Mining closed up 1.1%, while Regis Resources ended down 1.7%, according to Investing.com data. (Investing)
For Northern Star shareholders, next week’s dividend line-up is the near-term marker. The company has flagged an interim dividend of A$0.25 a share, with an ex-dividend date of March 4, a record date of March 5 and payment on March 26. (The ex-dividend date is when a stock starts trading without the right to the upcoming payout.) (NSR Limited)
In its half-year results summary earlier this month, Managing Director Stuart Tonkin said the board declared the interim dividend “despite a soft operating performance,” pointing to what he called “the resilience and growing returns” being built into the business. (NSR Limited)
Still, the setup cuts both ways. A sharper slide in bullion, or a stronger Australian dollar, can squeeze local gold miners’ margins, and cost pressure remains a recurring worry across the sector.
Northern Star’s next scheduled update is its March 2026 quarterly results on April 22, according to its investor calendar. (NSR Limited)
Before then, traders head into Friday watching whether gold holds its recent highs and whether the stock steadies ahead of the March ex-dividend date, which can distort short-term demand.
