Gold sustained its biggest one-day loss in nearly two months on Thursday, falling more than 2 percent as investors fearful of deepening European woes bailed on commodities and technical triggers set off sell orders. Any vestige of safe-haven buying was swept aside amid a scramble to raise cash.
Silver also tumbled more than 6 percent amid margin calls from outside markets as the S&P 500, crude oil futures, industrial metals and grains fell against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty and euro debt fears. Spot gold was down 2.5 percent at $1,718.44 an ounce by 4:04 pm EST (2104 GMT). It hit a session low of $1,709.64 an ounce, the cheapest price in around three weeks. US December gold futures settled at $1,720.20 an ounce, down $54.10 or 3 percent on the day.
Futures volume has exceeded its 30-day norm for a second consecutive day, bucking a recent slow trading pace. Spot silver fell over 6 percent to $31.57 an ounce. Among platinum group metals, platinum fell 2 percent to $1,578.24 an ounce and palladium fell 6.6 percent to $603.50 an ounce.