Westgold Resources and Northern Star Resources venture into new territory as gold keeps smashing records

A flurry of interest rate cuts, political uncertainty in the US, and war in the Middle East has catapulted the gold price — bringing some of Australia’s biggest miners along for the ride.

Shares in Australia’s premier domestic gold producer, Northern Star Resources, ticked up 0.3 per cent by the close of Friday’s trade to a fresh record of $17.08. Mid-tier lynchpin Westgold Resources surged 4.4 per cent to also finish at a new high of $3.11.

Northern Star is up 48.8 per cent over the past year and Westgold has added 62.8 per cent in that timeframe.

Local gold mining aspirants have also been beneficiaries, led by market darling Spartan Resources.

Spartan smashed through another ceiling on Friday to be perched at $1.52. Its value has now increased a whopping 1425 per cent since March last year.

The gold price in Australian dollar terms eclipsed its previous record to reach $4027 per ounce on Friday, after breaching the $4000/oz barrier earlier this week. The precious metal has gained 36.2 per cent in a year.

Saxobank head of commodity strategy Ole Hansen says the latest leg of gold’s ascent has been fuelled by a mixture of geopolitical tensions, interest rate cuts across major economies, and uncertainty about who the next leader of the free world will be.

Israel this week has ramped up its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, the European Central Bank and US Treasury have been cutting interest rates, and Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are neck and neck in the latest US presidential election polls.