Gold and silver hit new highs on Monday before falling in tandem with crude oil, as safe-haven bids faded and as investors heeded a recommendation from long-term commodities bull Goldman Sachs. After hitting a record high $1,476.21 an ounce earlier, gold was pressured on an African Union's Libya peace initiative. Silver also backed off a 31-year high, snapping an eight-session winning streak.
Spot gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,462.28 an ounce by 3:26 pm EDT (1926 GMT), the biggest one-day gain in nearly a month. US gold futures for June delivery settled down $6 at $1,468.10. Spot silver retreated from a session high of $41.93, the strongest since 1980. It later fell 0.4 percent to $40.68 an ounce.
The spreads between gold and silver - showing the relative strength between the two metals - have nearly halved since last August. The gold-to-silver ratio also fell toward its lowest level in recent decades after the Hunt Brothers cornered the silver market in the early 1980s.
Holdings of the world's largest gold-backed exchange traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, climbed 6 tonnes to about 1,217 tonnes as of Friday - the strongest level in nearly a month. The No 1 iShares Silver Trust said holdings held at a record at 11,192.80 tonnes. Among other precious metals, platinum was down 1.3 percent at $1,780.24 an ounce, while palladium dropped 1.6 percent to $777.72.
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