"News that China is planning to cut taxes as part of a new stimulus drive provided support to the base complex," Marex Spectron's Dee Perera said from the LME Desk.

Gold is about US$1 an ounce lower than this time yesterday, above $1,289/oz on the spot market as the British government today faces a no confidence motion following the landslide defeat of prime minister Theresa May's Brexit plan.

While new graphite producer Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) continued its share price climb this afternoon, miners featured strongly among the top five posting declines on the S&P/ASX200.

Iluka Resources (ASX: ILU) was down about 5% at the time of writing, despite little news since November when it said the government had stepped in to help resolve "an unlawful strike" at its Sierra Rutile operations in Sierra Leone.

Among the majors, BHP (ASX: BHP) was off 0.8% in late trade, Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) had closed up more than 1% in London and Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) continued its slide, losing a further 2.39% in the wake of its announced merger with Goldcorp.

Metals and mining stocks managed a slight gain of 0.06% in Toronto yesterday, where junior producer Anaconda Mining (TSX: ANX) added another 18% following this week's positive drilling results from its Goldboro deposit in Nova Scotia.