Gold and silver prices tumble again after historic plunge as CME margin hike bites
Gold and silver extended their sell-off on Monday as higher margin demands on futures trading added to the rush to cut leveraged bets. Spot gold was down 3.2% at $4,708.19 an ounce by 1008 GMT, after dropping nearly 10% earlier, while spot silver was down 3.4% at $81.65 after a 15% intraday slump. U.S. gold futures for April delivery fell 0.3% to $4,730.40, while platinum slid 4.3% to $2,070.64 and palladium dropped 2.1% to $1,662.68. The latest leg lower comes after a breakneck run-up that left the market crowded and jumpy, and the reversal is starting to spill into Asian equities. Indonesian stocks slid 4.9% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 2.2% on Monday; Singapore’s benchmark ended down 0.3% and small-cap miner CNMC Goldmine dropped 8.4%, The Straits Times reported. “This isn’t over,” said Robert Gottlieb, a former precious-metals trader at JPMorgan. “The trade was way too crowded.”