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Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped sharply on Monday due to massive selling activities.
The most active gold contract for December delivery fell 21.20 dollars, or 1.64 percent, to settle at 1275.30 dollars per ounce. It's the biggest one-day loss in the past two months.
The sharp fall took place as some 15,000 contracts, worth about 2 billion U.S. dollars, were dumped on the market in less than two minutes during the morning session, said market observers.
The U.S. dollar index, a measure of the greenback against a basket of other major currencies, rose 0.01 percent to reach 93.98 as of 1829 GMT.
The dollar especially gained against the euro as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed that she would prefer new elections to forming a minority government, after a breakdown in coalition talks plunged the country into political uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 90.03 points, or 0.39 percent, to 23,448.27 as of 1839 GMT.
However, financial analysts argued that the moderate gains in equities and a firm U.S. dollar could not push down the gold futures so sharply, which was against underlying fundamentals.
Such sell-offs have not been rare in recent months but they were short lived.
Other precious metals followed the gold's sharp downturn. Silver for December delivery fell 53.1 cents, or 3.06 percent, to close at 16.842 dollars per ounce. Platinum for next January went down 31 dollars, or 3.25 percent to settle at 923.60 dollars per ounce.
(AISA PACIFIC DAILY)
