** Australian gold stocks .AXGD rise as much as 2.4%, snapping three consecutive sessions of losses
** The gold sub-index gains after bullion up more than 1% on Wednesday, benefiting from investors' hesitation around riskier assets GOL/
** Evolution Mining EVN.AX rises 2%, and Northern Star Resources NST.AX gains 2.4%
** Sub-index up 88.2%, YTD
(Reporting by Shruti Agarwal in Bengaluru)
((Shruti.Agarwal@thomsonreuters.com))