Gold fell from a record high on Monday and silver notched its biggest one-day loss in seven weeks after the killing of Osama bin Laden sapped the safe-haven premium out of precious metals. Silver bounced off early lows after falling as much as 11 percent, as speculators scaled back their bullish bets on increased futures margins and a technical overhang after a 170 percent rally over the last 12 months to a record high last week.
Gold initially rose to a record high for a fourth consecutive session, but news of the al Qaeda leader's killing by US forces sent gold down almost 2 percent. The CBOE gold volatility index, a gauge of bullion investor anxiety, posted its biggest-ever two-session gain since its inception in September last year.
Spot gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,558.09 an ounce by 2:26 pm EDT (1826 GMT), after hitting a record high for a fourth straight session at $1,575.79. US June gold futures settled up 70 cents at $1,557.10 after ranging from $1,540.30 to $1,577.40. Silver was down 4.1 percent at $45.82 an ounce, having fallen as much as $5 to a two-week low of $42.58. US silver futures volume was nearly three times above its 250-day average, one of the busiest days in 2011. Platinum edged up 0.3 percent to $1,869.50 an ounce, while palladium dropped 1.5 percent to $777.22 an ounce.