Spot gold was worth US$1,841.50 an ounce at the time of writing and silver $22/oz.
"Gold has managed to break through the $1,818 mark this week, as this precious metal pushes into a fresh eight-year high on the way to the [September 2011] $1,921 record high," London-based IG senior market analyst Joshua Mahony said yesterday.
"The wider bullish trend continues apace with this breakout, where further upside looks very likely."
News of European stimulus measures also boosted the copper price, along with a reduced outlook from BHP, Marex Spectron's Alastair Munro said from the LME desk.
"The firm anticipates that its copper production will fall by 5-14% in the 2020-2021 fiscal year due to the impact of a reduction in workforce related to COVID-19 restriction measures," he said.
Spot copper finished above $6,500 per tonne, at $6,544.45/t on the London Metal Exchange.
Precious metals equities gained in Toronto, where Silver Elephant Mining (TSX: ELEF) closed up 18% and Americas Gold and Silver Corp (TSX: USA) gained 14.7%.
Development hopeful Northern Dynasty Minerals (TSX: NDM) was another market riser, up about 12% as it anticipates near-term approvals for its Pebble project and outlined expected average annual production over 20 years of 318 million pounds of copper, 362,000oz of gold, 14Mlb molybdenum and 1.8Moz of silver.
However among the majors, Barrick Gold closed down 0.16%, Fresnillo lost 2.55% in London and Freeport-McMoRan finished down 0.37% in New York.
