The global equity recovery that took benchmarks to a five-month high is now showing signs of cracking amid weakening data and a pivot by global central banks away from monetary normalisation, which itself reflects concerns about the outlook, Bloomberg said.
Gold was above US$1,316 an ounce on the spot market earlier and gold equities were a standout on global markets.
Australian-based gold major Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) was up about 3.6% at the time of writing to its highest point since mid-2016.
The company produced 1.2 million ounces in the half-year to December 31 and earlier this month said it would acquire 70% of the Red Chris mine in Canada.
Mining majors in London closed lower on Friday. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) was off 2.79% on Friday and Glencore (LSE: GLEN) was down 2.35%.
Metals and mining stocks had managed an overall gain in Toronto of 0.46%, where the gold sector closed 1.69% higher.
Among the juniors, Scandinavian explorer FireFox Gold (TSXV: FFOX) rose 35% or C7c on news of identifying "a major structure" at its Jeesiö gold project in Finland.
However large copper equities were hard hit, with Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) closing down 8% and First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) down 5.1%.