Market futures were pointing to an upbeat start around the world today amid hopes further US-China trade talks would be successful.
There was also anticipation of further economic stimulus measures in China, after data out today showed industrial output, retail sales and investment all slowed in April, Bloomberg reported.
The gold price is a little softer than this time yesterday but is still above US$1,295 an ounce.
Base metal futures were mostly higher in Asian trade and copper closed up slightly on the London Metal Exchange yesterday.
Toronto's gold-heavy metals and mining sector closed off 0.4% but copper equities showed a collective gain of 2.82%.
Diversified producer Lundin Mining (TSX: LUN) rose 5.39% and ERO Copper was up 4.27%, both on no news.
Diversified miners closed higher in London yesterday and were rising in afternoon Australian trade.
BHP (ASX: BHP) was up 1.7% at the time of writing and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) had closed 3.14% higher yesterday.