Gold fell 5 percent to below $1,690 an ounce on Wednesday for its biggest one-day drop in more than three years, as speculation that central banks might be done with easy monetary policies led funds to exit the bullion trade. Gold fell nearly $100 and silver was down $3 from session highs. Losses started to snowball at 10 am EST (1500 GMT) after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not mention another round of monetary easing was imminent.
Spot gold was down 5 percent for the day at $1,695.39 an ounce by 4:10 pm, after hitting a one-month low at $1,687.99. Wednesday's sell-off wiped out gold's gains from earlier in February, and the metal ended the month with a 2.5 percent loss for its second decline in three months. Spot silver was down 6.4 percent at $35.54 an ounce, reversing a 4 percent gain posted on Tuesday. Among platinum group metals, platinum was down 2.2 percent at $1,676.50 an ounce and palladium fell 3.1 percent to $697.28.