The Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) share price is tumbling today.
Shares in the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) gold stock closed yesterday trading for $25.84. During the Wednesday lunch hour, shares are changing hands for $23.29 apiece, down 9.9%.
That's sharply underperforming the ASX 200 today, with the benchmark index down a more modest 0.8% at this same time.
But the Northern Star share price fall is broadly in line with the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD), which is down 9.2% at the time of writing.
Despite today's retrace, shares in the ASX 200 gold miner remain up 50.8% year to date. Northern Star also trades on a partly franked 2.4% trailing dividend yield.
Here's what's got investors pressing their sell buttons today.
Image source: Getty Images
Northern Star share price plunges on gold's retreat
ASX investors awoke this morning to news that the record-setting gold price run had gone into reverse overnight.
The gold price is down 6.6% over the past day, with the yellow metal currently trading for US$4,067 per ounce. Gold was trading near record highs of US$4,356 per ounce on Tuesday.
This marks the biggest single-day fall in the gold price in more than 12 years, and it's clearly pressuring the Northern Star share price and almost every ASX gold share today.
The outsized pullback looks to be driven by retail and institutional investors taking some profits off the table following gold's record-setting run. News that the US and China may be edging closer to a trade agreement may also have taken some of the shine off gold, which has benefited from its haven status amid stiff geopolitical tensions.
Despite the overnight fall, however, the yellow metal's gains remain at 55% in 2025 (in US dollar terms).
And the Northern Star share price remains up 50.8% year to date.
As for what investors might expect next, Helen Amos, a commodity analyst at BMO Capital Markets, believes the overnight retrace in the gold price is "only natural" following the rapid gains.
According to Amos (quoted by Bloomberg):
We like the gold story; we think the gold story is fundamentally a good one. We're forecasting prices around US$4,500 next year. But no prices like going a straight line. pullbacks are kind of healthy, and we think this is inevitable that we are getting a little bit of volatility along the way.
If gold does head to US$4,500 per ounce in 2026, the Northern Star share price could be set for more outsized gains.
