Hopes that Chinese authorities will stimulate economic activity in their country with supportive policy are also growing.

 

Copper led the way with a rise of more than 2% but gold softened, and the gold sector in Toronto lost about 1.4%.

 

The major miners in London gained, including Rio Tinto up 1%.

 

At midweek, however, of worry has seen metals sold down, though iron ore was an outlier with a somewhat unexpected gain of nearly 3%.

 

The worries include weak economic performance in the major economies of China and Germany, and the US debt ceiling uncertainty.

 

Added into the mix was stronger than expected US retail sales in April, with that weighing on gold given the ongoing battle in North America against inflation.