Gold was not moving much today after sliding below US$1,320/oz yesterday amid a resurgence in the US dollar.
It has been a quiet day in equity and commodity markets as investors had little corporate or macroeconomic data to digest. Everybody is looking to the outcome of the G20 meeting that has kicked off in South Korea.
A proposal from the US to set current accounts imbalance targets will be in focus.
The US is suggesting that G20 members keep their deficits and surpluses within 4% of the GDP, discouraging them from devaluing their currencies to gain a competitive advantage in export markets.
Canada has already backed the proposal, however, most other G20 nations, particularly China, are expected to be reluctant to accept such guidelines.
The US dollar was on the rise again today after briefly declining to give support to oil and metal prices.
Gold and silver were unmoved at US$1,325/oz and US$23.16/oz, while platinum inched lower to US$1,669/oz.
Most mining stocks were in decline with the exception of African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG), which added 1%, while peer Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) lost 1.5%, as did platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI).
Silver miner Fresnillo (LON:FRES) declined marginally.
Midcaps followed the trend in the sector. Silver producer Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) lost 3%, while Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) shed 2.3% and gold miner Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) declined marginally.
Norseman Gold (LON:NGL), which operates Australia’s longest continuously running gold mining operation, was among the top performing small caps, rising 5%.