Gold, silver extend fall as CME margin hikes compound sharp selloff
An employee shows a silver bar, as gold and silver bars of various values are stored in a safe deposit room in Munich, Germany, Jan. 28. Reuters-Yonhap
Gold and silver prices continued to fall on Monday as higher margin requirements at CME Group compounded last week's sharp selloff following the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair.
Spot gold was down 4.8 percent at $4,630.59 an ounce by 01:32 p.m. ET (1832 GMT), after tumbling nearly 10 percent earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled 1.9 percent lower at $4,652.60 an ounce.
Bullion tumbled 9.8 percent on Friday, and has shed about $900 from its January 29 record high of $5,594.82, erasing most of this year's gains.
"Gold and silver are on a rollercoaster ride and when you get to the top of the 'lift hill', gravity takes over and you are heading down," said SP Angel analyst John Meyer.
Spot silver fell 9.2 percent to $76.81 an ounce, after sliding as much as 15 percent earlier in the session. Silver has dropped roughly 37 percent since hitting a record high of $121.64 last week.
Despite the rout, analysts cautioned against reading the move as the start of a prolonged downturn.
"The conditions do not appear primed for a sustained reversal in gold prices," said Michael Hsueh, precious metals analyst at Deutsche Bank, in a note, adding that investors "remain highly bid for upside," pointing to continued volatility rather than a collapse in sentiment.
CME Group said on Friday it would raise margin requirements on precious metal futures, with the changes taking effect after Monday's market close.
Meanwhile, analysts said the sharp fall in prices has pushed out many speculative traders who had piled into the market during the rally, helping cool the market and reduce excess speculation.
"We saw some money coming out of ETFs and we suspect some brave hedge funds took it from there," Meyer said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index extended gains, to hit a more than one-week high, making dollar-priced bullion more expensive for overseas buyers.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday nominated former Fed official Kevin Warsh to succeed Chair Jerome Powell in May, with markets expecting a tilt toward rate cuts alongside tighter balance-sheet policy.
Spot platinum fell by 3.3 percent to $2,091.38 per ounce, while palladium shed 1.4 percent to $1,673.70.