US and European market futures were pointing lower but Toronto's was higher.
Mining equities on the S&P/ASX200 were collectively holding onto positive territory in late afternoon trade, despite an overall plus-1% drop by the gold sector.
Australian gold major Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM) was down 2% at the time of writing.
Gold was a couple of dollars lower than this point yesterday on the spot market, below US$1,328 an ounce.
Base metal futures were mixed in Asian trade this afternoon.
The small number of metal and mining stocks on the S&P500 closed down 1.48% yesterday, weighed down by Newmont Mining's (NYSE: NEM) drop of 3.19%.
Its share price has slid since Barrick Gold made a hostile bid for the company, with Newmont indicating it prefers its planned acquisition of Goldcorp.
However its shares remain slightly up year-to-date.
Barrick closed a little lower, down C1c or 0.06% in Toronto.
Metals and mining stocks had closed 0.22% lower in London and 0.44% lower in Toronto yesterday.
Dual-listed OceanaGold (TSX: OGC) finished Tuesday down 3.78%, losing the previous day's gains from announcing a high-grade resource at its Waihi project in New Zealand.
