Gold Traders Play Waiting Game

Turning to the miners, Peru's largest publicly traded precious metals miner, Compania de Minas Buenaventura(BVN Quote), announced after the previous close that it had reversed 25% of its hedge book, or the equivalent of 483,000 ounces. The move will mean earnings of the firm will become more sensitive to changes in the gold price.

Investors reacted warmly, boosting the shares 2.5% in recent trading.

A program of buying back hedges is often considered bullish for the market as a whole because the process often involves active purchases of bullion futures. But it can also be viewed bearishly. That's because once a hedge book is reversed, the potential for future de-hedging-related buying is reduced.

Elsewhere in the precious metals patch, JPMorgan was busy doling out downgrades to Harmony Gold(HMY Quote) and AngloGold Ashanti(AU Quote).

Harmony was dinged to a neutral rating from overweight, while AngloGold was clicked down to underweight from neutral. Still the shares were both up modestly in recent action.

In base metals, copper moved ahead by 7 cents to $2.85 a pound on bullish news of imports of the metal into China.