Market futures were pointing to a positive start in Toronto and London but lower on Wall Street and the S&P/ASX 200 index was lower at the time of writing.

Both official and private business surveys pointed to slower Chinese factory growth this month, Reuters reported, maintaining hopes for further economic stimulus.

The S&P500 had reached a fresh, record intraday high yesterday of 2,949.52 and ended the day at a record closing high of 2,943.03.

Japan's markets are closed for abdication day today.

Markets are also awaiting the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's FOMC meeting this week.

Australian diversified metals and mining stocks were down 1.43% and the gold sector was more than 2% lower in afternoon trade.

BHP (ASX: BHP) was down 1.3%.

London-listed majors were mixed yesterday, with Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) down 0.8% yesterday and Glencore (LSE: GLEN) up 0.55%.

Metals and mining stocks closed down 2.16% in Toronto yesterday, with the gold sector off 2.34%.

All the S&P/TSX Composite Index gold stocks closed lower, including Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) which was down 2.74%.

The gold price had dropped below US$1,280 an ounce on the spot market in the past 24 hours but has lifted towards where it was trading at this time yesterday, near $1,284/oz.