September 23, 2011 / 13:07 IST
Silver prices tumbled and gold dropped to one-month lows on Friday, amid a sell-off in commodities as fear heightened that the global economy could plunge back into a recession.
The base metals complex tumbled, led by a 13% loss in the London tin. Asia's stock market also slid and emerging market currencies fell amid fears the developed world is stumbling back into recession.
The world's major economies pledged to prevent Europe's debt crisis from undermining banks and financial markets, and said the euro zone's rescue fund would be bolstered.
The news came a day after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of significant downside risks for economic growth, which triggered a sell-off in equities and commodities.
Spot gold fell as much as 0.9% to a one-month low of USD 1,719.8 an ounce, before recovering most of the losses to USD 1,734.69 by 0635 GMT.
US gold shed more than 1% to USD 1,722.3, its lowest since August 25. It stood at USD 1,737.30, headed for a 4.4% loss from a week earlier, its sharpest weekly loss since March 2009.
"It's recession fear," said a Hong Kong-based dealer, adding that investors fear policy makers around the world have a very limited choice of tools to spur economic growth, as interest rates are already low in major developed economies.
"Gold may test USD 1,700, but USD 1,650 should provide very good support."
Spot gold is expected to consolidate between USD 1,680 and USD 1,920 per ounce over the next three months before resuming its long-term uptrend, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said.
Silver prices tracked losses in industrial metals. Spot silver fell more than 4% to USD 34.22, its lowest since July 5, and trimmed losses to USD 34.94.
US silver tumbled more than 6% to USD 34.32, headed for a weekly loss of 15% -- its sharpest weekly decline since early May.
The dollar index edged down 0.3% on Friday, but was holding close to a seven-month high hit in the previous session, after investors fled commodities to the perceived safety of Treasuries.
"The dollar has strengthened in all of this and everyone is de-risking and putting money into the dollar because of the deteriorating economic outlook," said Soozhana Choi, head of commodity research in Asia at Deutsche Bank in Singapore.
"We saw massive de-risking across the board, and gold as well as other commodities weren't unscathed."
