Spot silver dropped 2.6 percent and gold edged lower on Thursday as worries about economic growth and the end of easy monetary policy crushed early gains, extending losses from the previous session. A broad-based sell-off in commodities that has seen major losses last Thursday and again on Wednesday has pulled silver down nearly a third from a record high hit just two weeks ago, with gold off 5.4 percent from the record hit at the start of the month.
Spot silver fell 2.6 percent to $34.16 an ounce by 0721 GMT, after a fall of nearly 9 percent the previous day. Gold dipped 0.4 percent to $1,494.46, adding to the 1 percent loss on Wednesday. Even with the recent losses silver remained the best performer of the precious metals complex, up 10.3 percent so far this year, compared to gold's 5.3 percent gain and falls for platinum and palladium. The gold-silver ratio, used to measure how many ounces of silver is needed to buy an ounce of gold, jumped nearly 9 percent on Wednesday to 42.78, its highest level since late February.