Gloomy data out of China this week and a weaker US dollar has helped boost precious metal stocks and bullion with the spot price back above US$1,280 an ounce today.

Base metal prices took a tumble on the London Metal Exchange yesterday with nickel the worst performer, dropping more than 5.7%.

In Australia, BHP (AU:BHP) fell more than 2% today and fellow diversified miner Independence Group (AU:IGO) lost 4.49%.

This was likely due to IGO's base metals exposure, as it reported "encouraging" mineralisation from early-stage exploration at its Lake Mackay gold and base metals joint venture in the Northern Territory.

However gold miners St Barbara (AU:SBM) and Northern Star Resources (AU:NST) both hit 52-week highs intraday, gaining 3.64% and 2.86% respectively.

The gains came as research by Argonaut Securities showed Australia's mid-tier gold producers were lower cost than their North American counterparts, as sister publication MiningNews.net reported.

The movements echoed a similar pattern in Toronto yesterday, with gold miner Barrick Gold (CN:ABX) rising slightly and diversified Teck Resources (CN:TECK.B) falling almost 3%.

In the US, the S&P500 closed lower yesterday as did Johannesburg's FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index, despite a raft of economic deals announced earlier in the week designed to restore investor confidence in South Africa.