Marex Spectron said the LME copper on-warrant inventory had fallen to 136,000 tonnes, a low not seen since September 2017.

Base metals futures were again mixed in Asian trade with the LME three-month zinc price down the most at the time of writing, down 1.06%.

The spot gold price had earlier dropped back to the US$1,200 an ounce mark but has risen a couple of dollars over the past six hours.

Wall Street hit fresh highs yesterday but gold major Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) closed down 1.27%.

Toronto's gold sector was off more than 2% on the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

The only gold miner in positive territory was Turkey-focused producer Alacer Gold (TSX: ASR) which was up 0.84% as it nears the start-up of its sulphide plant, slated for this quarter.

At the other end of the scale, North American gold miner Alamos Gold (TSX: AGI) was down 4.56% on no news.

The gold patch was also lower in Australian trade, down 0.35% in mid-afternoon trade, but the diversified miners were showing a gain of 0.58%.

BHP (ASX: BHP) was up 1.29%.

Investors were keen on mining stocks in London following the bank holiday with the sector closing up 2.14% on the FTSE100 yesterday.

Among the diversifieds, Anglo American (LSE: AAL) and Glencore (LSE: GLEN) closed 3.26% and 2.07% higher respectively.