Shares of gold miners were mixed in Wednesday afternoon trading, as Merrill Lynch upgraded Goldcorp Inc. and NovaGold Resources Inc. again rejected a takeover bid from Barrick Gold Corp.

The overall CBOE Gold Index was down three-quarters of a percent, with six of 10 component stocks declining. Most percentage swings were slight, under 2 percent.

Gold for December delivery slipped $3.30 to $615 per ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Shares of Barrick lost 98 cents, or 3.3 percent, to $29.18 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The world's largest gold producer extended its offer of $16 per share for NovaGold to Nov. 21. NovaGold again urged shareholders to reject the offer, calling it undervalued.

The index's other big decliners were Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., down $1.73, or 2.9 percent, to $59, and Harmony Gold Mining Co., lost 45 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $15.22. Both trade on the NYSE.

Shares of Goldcorp, meanwhile, fell 13 cents to $26.30 on the NYSE, despite an upgrade from Merrill Lynch.

Analyst Michael Jalonen boosted the stock to "Buy" from "Neutral" and set a price target of $34, following its merger with Glamis Gold. In a research note, Jalonen wrote the newly combined gold producer will be the world's third largest by market capitalization and will benefit from above-average production growth and below-average cash costs.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Curran kept his "Outperform" rating on Goldcorp, while writing in a research note that the new company has the best growth profile among tier one global gold producers.