"Copper jumped, while the other LME metals were a mixed bag on Tuesday, after Chinese manufacturing activity recovered sharply in March," Marex Spectron's Anna Stablum said from the LME desk (Singapore).

However, she said some analysts believed the worst was yet to come as the survey only asked how business compared to the previous month, which showed the deepest contraction since at least 2005.

More manufacturing data out of China is expected today.

The spot gold price has fallen below US$1,600 an ounce again to $1,581/oz earlier.

Metals and mining stocks gained in Toronto yesterday, where the S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 2.6%.

Australia-based, Ecuador-focused explorer SolGold (TSX: SOLG) saw its Toronto-listed shares jump 51% on no news and little volume.

British company Condor Gold (TSX: COG), which is looking to build its La India mine in Nicaragua, headed in the opposite direction, closing down 16.7% in Toronto, also on no news and small volume.

Finally, gold major Newmont (NYSE: NEM) lost 2.3% in New York, which has become the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic with more cases than China's Hubei province, Bloomberg reported.