Closing Bell: Gold hype continues as banks lift ASX for third day of gains

• ASX rises 0.4pc with eight of 11 sectors higher
• Materials, major banks lead gains
• Myer takes an absolute beating

Gold bull run continues

Everyone’s favourite precious metal is continuing its bull run and dragging the ASX with it.

Gold futures rose to a new high of US$3,794 per ounce today, giving our XGD All Ords Gold index some fuel to continue the climb.

The XGD has had an absolutely ridiculous run of it in 2025, climbing 85% over the year to date.

Today, that’s translated to a 0.4% uptick for the ASX 200, and a 2% jump for our local goldies.

The biggest percentage movers among our gold mid-caps and up were Chalice Mining (ASX:CHN) which surged 17.3%, Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN), climbing 9.9%, Larvotto Resources (ASX:LRV) adding 7.6% and Ora Banda (ASX:OBM) up 5.7%.

While the resources sector was doing a lot of the heavy lifting today, the major banks also threw their weight behind the bourse.

The stock movements themselves were fairly subdued – the top seven added between 0.15% and 1.01% each – the bank’s collective might have meant they gave us a strong push into the green anyway.

QBE Insurance (ASX:QBE) was the exception, falling just 0.1%, while National Australia Bank (ASX:NAB) gained the most, adding 1.01%.

Myer crashes out

Retail clothing and goods store Myer (ASX:MYR) isn’t living up to its century-long reputation at present, with the stock price plunging 23.4% by the end of trade today.

The Aussie retailer posted big losses for the year, reporting a net loss of $211.2 million. A large part of that came from its acquisition of the Premier Investments’ Apparel brands earlier this year.

Myer splashed out $1.1 billion to acquire Just Jeans, Portmans, Dotti, Jay Jays and Jacqui E, but so far, the new offerings just aren’t pulling their weight on the balance sheet.

Still, excluding the one-off acquisition expenses, Myer’s net profit was down 30% from last year, and the stock elected not to offer a dividend.

MYR executive chair Olivia Wirth was keen to lay at least part of the blame on retail crime.

“There is, quite frankly, an alarming rate of anti-social behaviour towards our staff,” Ms Wirth told investors on a call.

“The problem is endemic and has clearly escalated in the past 12 months, and particularly in Victoria.

“Not only is it happening more often, but the severity of incidents is growing.”

The ABS numbers appear to agree – incidents of theft rose 6% year-on-year in 2025, with almost half of that (45%) occurring in retail setting.

ASX Leaders

Today’s best-performing stocks (including small caps):

In the news…

Everlast Minerals (ASX:EV8) listed to the ASX today, having raised $6m in its IPO at $0.20 a share.

EV8’s portfolio includes the flagship Gaibandha project in Bangladesh, a mineral sands project the company intends to rapidly develop from a maiden resource estimate of 375Mt at 1.18% to 1.24% total valuable heavy minerals.

Bio-gene Technology (ASX:BGT) has confirmed the efficacy of its Flavocide tick control treatment, with laboratory studies highlighting mortality rates of above 90% for Ixodes scapularis nymphs, a major vector of Lyme disease in the United States.

BGT’s testing demonstrated the prototype formulation offers residual activity for up to four weeks post-application under lab conditions, which were designed to model natural tick habitats such as mulch, leaf litter, and turfgrass.

Check out Tim Boreham’s Health Check for more detail on that.

Enegex (ASX:ENX) is buying up 3,700km2 of gold-prospective ground in Côte d’Ivoire with the acquisition of private company Famien Resources.

The company will hit the Gogo and Tougbe targets with the drill bit first, having raised $5 million and tapped Paul Roberts – best known for the 5.5Moz Bankan gold discovery – as managing director.

Terra Critical Minerals (ASX:T92) has unearthed a high-grade silver sample of 400 g/t from surface at the Mole River project in NSW.

More than 24 outcrops have produced samples of above 30 g/t silver, with other high-grade examples from the latest batch including 203 g/t silver, 165 g/t silver and 148 g/t silver.

Algorae Pharmaceuticals (ASX:1AI) has inked an exclusive commercial licensing agreement with Sakar Healthcare, launching five oncology medicines in Australia and New Zealand.

The company’s ongoing research and development initiatives are evaluating 21 oncology drug targets generated by 1AI’s proprietary AI drug discovery platform.

ASX Laggards

Today’s worst-performing stocks (including small caps):

In Case You Missed It

Maronan Metals (ASX:MMA) has production in its sights after delivering a strong economic case to develop the Starter Zone deposit.

Altech Batteries’ (ASX:ATC) proprietary battery pack has shown improved energy capacity: 90 kilowatt hours of energy up from 60 kilowatt hours.

Neurotech International (ASX:NTI) has launched an Authorised Prescriber program for its therapy NTI164 across a range of neurodevelopmental conditions for paediatric patients in Australia.

Redcastle Resources (ASX:RC1) has acquired a prospecting licence that sits at the heart of its recently acquired TBone Belt tenement package.

LTR Pharma (ASX:LTP) co-founds and secures 33% equity ownership in LevOmega, an Australian company focused on developing nature-identical omega-3 products.

Trading halts

1414 Degrees (ASX:14D) – cap raise
Amplitude Energy (ASX:AEL) – cap raise
Canyon Resources (ASX:CAY) – cap raise
Evion Group (ASX:EVG) – cap raise
Finder Energy (ASX:FNDER) – material farmout transaction
Invex Therapeutics (ASX:IXC) – material acquisition and ASX query response
Lord Resources (ASX:LRD) – cap raise
PARKD (ASX:PKD) – cap raise
Red Mountain Mining (ASX:RMX) – US critical minerals update & cap raise
Sierra Nevada Gold (ASX:SNX) – cap raise

At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Enegex is a Stockhead advertiser, it did not sponsor this article.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.