Sydney, March 6, 2026, 17:19 AEDT
Northern Star Resources Ltd will join Australia’s S&P/ASX 20 in the March quarterly rebalance, replacing Santos before trading opens on March 23, S&P Dow Jones Indices said on Friday. The same notice lifted gold peers Regis Resources and Westgold Resources into the ASX 100, a sign the sector is carrying more weight in local benchmarks.
The change matters because the S&P/ASX 20 is made up of the 20 largest, most liquid stocks on the Australian market, and products tied to the gauge follow that line-up. BlackRock’s iShares S&P/ASX 20 ETF, for example, says it aims to track the benchmark before fees. 1
For Northern Star, the promotion caps a year of expansion. The miner completed its De Grey Mining acquisition in May 2025, adding the Hemi project in Western Australia, and last month reported underlying EBITDA of A$1.876 billion for the six months to Dec. 31, up 34%, with net cash of A$293 million. Chief Executive Stuart Tonkin said the result showed “the resilience and growing returns” in the business. 2
The capital return is still moving through the market. Northern Star’s A$0.25 interim dividend began trading without entitlement to the payout on March 4, reached its record date on Thursday and is due to be paid on March 26. Shareholders wanting stock instead of cash had until 5 p.m. Friday to elect into the dividend reinvestment plan. 3
Gold’s rally has done a lot of the lifting. Bullion is up about 18% this year despite a rough week, and OANDA senior market analyst Kelvin Wong said on Friday that “geopolitical risks are still not subsiding,” with Middle East tensions continuing to support the metal. 4
But the index promotion does not remove Northern Star’s operating risks. The company cut FY26 production guidance in January to 1.6 million-1.7 million ounces and later raised all-in sustaining cost guidance to A$2,600-A$2,800 an ounce; AISC is a gold industry measure of what it costs to keep a mine in business. 5
The stock also remains tied to gold’s day-to-day swings. Reuters reported on Thursday that spot gold fell 1.2% as higher U.S. Treasury yields and a firmer dollar weighed on prices. That is the other side of Northern Star’s rise: benchmark promotion may help its standing, but bullion still sets the tone. 6
Still, Friday’s rebalance notice is a marker of how far Northern Star has moved up the market’s pecking order. The change takes effect before the open on March 23, putting the miner into Australia’s top-share index just as gold names take a bigger place in the latest reshuffle. 7
