• Australian gold stocks decline as much as 4% to their lowest point since August 20

• Shares of Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining slip about 4% each

• Gold prices extend losses on Friday, a day after robust U.S. inflation data and rising oil prices increased bets for a Federal Reserve rate hike next week [GOL/]

• Gold sub-index down for a fifth consecutive session

• If losses hold, sub-index on track to log weekly loss of nearly 7%, its worst since mid-July

• Sub-index down ~2%, YTD

(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru)