Markets were reeling yesterday amid increased trade tensions as the yuan fell below the psychologically-significant 7 per US dollar mark in response to further proposed tariffs.

However after the US labelled China a currency manipulator, the People's Bank of China set the daily currency fixing stronger than analysts expected and announced the planned sale of yuan-dominated bonds in Hong Kong, Bloomberg reported.

The spot gold price is higher than this point yesterday, despite softening to about US$1,463 an ounce, having risen above $1,474/oz earlier.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 had slumped more than 2% at the time of writing.

London looked set for a lower opening today as the Brexit headache continues.

Toronto was closed for a public holiday yesterday.

Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE: NEM) closed up about 1.4% in New York yesterday, Glencore (LSE: GLEN) continued to drop in London, closing down about 3%, and BHP (ASX: BHP) was steady in afternoon Australian trade.

Finally, iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (ASX: FMG) was up 4.5% at the time of writing after yesterday's slump of about 7%.

The iron ore price has fallen from about $120 per tonne last week to below $100/t, according to MySteel, amid US-China tensions and supply coming back online.

Fortescue is up about 93% year-to-date and CEO Elizabeth Gaines was among the presenters this morning at the annual Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie.