Gold dropped around 3 percent on Monday, its largest one-day drop in nearly three months, as doubts over a deal for European economic integration triggered a technical breakdown. Spot gold dropped 2.7 percent to $1,663.86 an ounce by 2:19 p.m. EST (1919 GMT), having touched a near two-month low of $1,657.04.
US gold futures for February delivery settled down $48.60 at $1,668.20 an ounce. Trading volume was about 10 percent below its 30-day average, in line with recently weaker turnover ahead of the year's end. Silver fell 3.4 percent to $31.10 an ounce. Prices of platinum group metals also weakened. Palladium fell 4.1 percent to $655.22 an ounce, while platinum fell 2 percent to $1,480.74 an ounce.