US president Donald Trump has threatened to impose sanctions to stop construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, Bloomberg reported, while there have been demonstrations in Hong Kong against a plan to allow extraditions to China from the former British colony.

The Hang Seng was lower in afternoon trade.

The US spot gold price is similar to this time yesterday, at US$1,334 an ounce, while the Australian dollar spot gold price is around a fresh record high, at A$1,936/oz according to the Perth Mint.

Australian gold miner Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) was up 1.9% to $9.98 at the time of writing, close to an all-time high reached recently.

Metals and mining stocks were down about 0.8% yesterday in Toronto.

West African gold miner Avesoro Resources (TSX: ASO) showed one of the bigger gains yesterday of almost 33%, as it said it was confident of a positive outcome to labour discussions in Burkina Faso where its Youga operations have been suspended.

However it was coming off a low base, having tumbled about two-thirds in value earlier this week as it cut its production outlook and raised forecast costs for 2019.