The S&P500 rose 1% to close at an all-time high of 3,066.91 on Friday following positive US jobs data, while private manufacturing data out of China was better than expected.

The positive economic sentiment saw the gold sector on Toronto's S&P/TSX Composite Index close down 1.5% but the diversified miners rose about 2%.

Calibre Mining (TSX: CXB), which graduated to the TSX in October, was a highlight.

It gained almost 15% or 11c after reporting high-grade gold intercepts from B2Gold's drilling at the El Limon project in Nicaragua, where the vein system now extends over 2.5km.

Calibre closed a US$100 million cash and scrip deal with B2Gold in October, gaining the El Limon and La Libertad gold mines and earlier-stage projects in Nicaragua, with B2Gold owning about 30% of Calibre following the transaction. 

For its part, B2Gold (TSX: BTO) lost C1c to close down 0.2% on Friday.

Elsewhere, metals and mining stocks enjoyed a gain of more than 3% on London's FTSE100, where Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) added 3.8%.

In Australian trade, mining equities were also in favour, with BHP (ASX: BHP) up 2% at the time of writing.

Finally, gold is worth almost US$1,512 an ounce on the spot market.