US gold fell as much as 2 percent on Thursday, as growing fears over the stability of Italy and the eurozone sank riskier assets and led to liquidation on the gold market. The most-active US gold futures contract lost as much as 2 percent to $1,755.5 an ounce, and recovered slightly to $1,757.70 by 0718 GMT.
Spot gold dropped 0.8 percent to $1,756.19. Technical analysis suggested that spot gold could drop to $1,740 during the day, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. US silver slumped as much as 2.8 percent to $33.40 an ounce, and spot silver lost 1.4 percent, tracking losses in base metals and equities.