The World Gold Council took the opportunity to point to gold's relevance in the wake of last week's IMF report that had indicated an increase in the level of risk among multiple global metrics, which saw stocks "hammered" and gold act "as a key flight-to-safety asset".

"While the market has regained some of its early losses, we believe the report and the subsequent market pullback underline the relevance of holding gold in the near and long term," the council said yesterday.

A gold stock enjoying a surge of attention is Canadian explorer GT Gold (TSXV: GTT), whose stock has continued to soar since last week confirming a "very large porphyry gold-copper-silver discovery" at Saddle North.

It gained more than 16% yesterday, touching a one-year high intraday of C$1.87, more than twice the price of its level at the start of last week.

Meanwhile, energy minerals stocks were lower in Australian trade this afternoon, with lithium producers Orocobre (ASX: ORE) and Galaxy Resources (ASX: GXY) plus graphite miner Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) down in the order of 4%-5% at the time of writing.

Galaxy had revealed lower production results at a reduced cash margin from its Mt Cattlin mine, while Orocobre had reported "continuing excellent results" from exploration at its Cauchari joint venture and Syrah had nothing to announce.

Finally, the US Treasury stopped short of declaring China a currency manipulator, Bloomberg reported, and as expected minutes from the Federal Reserve pointed to further interest rate rises.