Gold and silver prices tumbled on Friday as a sharp rise in the dollar against major currencies sparked a major sell-off in the metals market, dealers said.
Palladium fell more than seven percent while platinum was down by 1.5 percent in late European trade that saw copper, aluminium and zinc sinking by about six percent each.
"The market is in a liquidation mood and it's going to struggle to get out of this mood for the time being," said Yingxi Yu, precious metals analyst at Barclays Capital.
"The significant fund length certainly points to scope for further selling," she said.
Spot gold fell 4.3 percent to a three-week low of $651.00 an ounce from New York's close of $680.30/681.10 on Thursday. The metal traded in a broad range of $37, climbing as high as $688.50 at one stage.
By 1514 GMT, the metal was quoted at $653.10/653.90.
Gold has fallen 11 percent in a week from its 26-year high of $730 hit last Friday when speculators poured money into the metal on a weak dollar outlook and inflationary concerns.
"It's a combination of options and technical-related selling. Potentially there is scope now for further pressure back even towards $600," said James Moore, precious metals analyst at TheBulliondesk.com.
"It's a short-term correction. We are still firmly in a bull trend as there are far too many factors supporting gold."
Traders said large deficits in the US economy, inflation concerns, the overall weak dollar sentiment, tension in the Middle East and a slow growth in mine production were expected to provide support to the market.
South Africa, the world's biggest gold producer, saw output fall by 10.9 percent to 68 tonnes during the first quarter of 2006 from last year due to worker holidays and restructuring, the Chamber of Mines said.
Silver prices also followed gold and fell to a three-week low of $12.11 an ounce, down 3.6 percent from $12.58/12.68 in the US market.
It was last quoted at $12.19/12.29.
Palladium was the worst hit among precious metals, falling to a five-week low of $330/335 an ounce, versus $356/361 in the US market.
Platinum dropped as low as $1,280 an ounce before marginally rising to $1,282/1,290, compared with $1,300/1,308 in New York. It had hit a record high of $1,336 this week.
Platinum had not fallen as sharply as other precious metals because of positive market fundamentals, dealers said.
Johnson Matthey, the world's top platinum distributor, said on Monday demand for the metal was set to outpace supply for the eighth year in a row in 2006.
In other markets, UK mining equities headed lower in a broadly steady FTSE 100 index. World number one miner BHP Biliton was down 1.3 percent and Rio Tinto shed 1.8 percent.
Heavy liquidation of speculative investments in metals, energy and agricultural commodities sent the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 futures contracts to a five-week low.