The spot price was about US$10 an ounce higher than this time yesterday on the spot market, trading above $1,232/oz.

After a mixed close in London yesterday, base metals futures were mainly higher in Asian trade this afternoon as Chinese investors showed optimism over economic stimulus plans.

In New York, Caterpillar posted one of the biggest drops on the NYSE yesterday as it revealed the intensifying trade war put a blight on optimistic earnings growth prospects.

"We've come up upon a tremendous wall of worry for US stocks and stocks around the world," Mainstay Capital Management CEO David Kudla told Bloomberg Television.

Diversified miners in London had closed lower, with Glencore (LSE: GLEN) down more than 3.5% in the wake of reports CEO Ivan Glasenberg is planning to retire in 3-5 years.

BHP (ASX: BHP) was down more than 2% in late afternoon Australian trade.

The broader metals and mining sector on the S&P/ASX200 was more than 1% lower at the time of writing but the gold patch was up more than 3%.

Gold miners Saracen Mineral Holdings (ASX: SAR) and Regis Resources (ASX: RRL) were both up in the order of 5% on no news.