Gold rose early, but fell back to US$1,376/oz later in the session as concerns over Europe’s debt situation eased.
Portugal’s finance minister stated that the debt-laden country was looking to avoid a bailout from the European Union, while Japan said it would buy bonds from a European rescue fund to help Europe cope with its fiscal problems.
Demand for safe haven assets such as gold was reduced after Alcoa (NYSE:AA) released a strong quarterly report that beat market expectations, showing a net income of 24 cents per share.
Silver and platinum climbed to US$29.45/oz and US$1,757/oz respectively.
Silver producer Fresnillo (LON:FRES) led the mining stocks with a 2.5% climb.
Platinum miner Lonmin (LON:LMI) and gold miner Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) added 1.8% and 1.1% respectively.
Another gold producer African Barrick Gold (LON:ABG) rose marginally.
In the FTSE 250, Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) and Petropavlovsk (LON:POG) rose 2.3% and 1.9% respectively. Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) rose marginally.
Diversified mining investment company ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) rose 10%.
Oxus Gold (LON:OXS), which is the only publicly listed gold mining company with primary operations inside the Republic of Uzbekistan, followed with a 7.5% gain.