Shares in precious metals miners fell further on Monday as gold and silver prices fell back to their lowest in over three months.
The gold price was down 6% to $4,215 an ounce, wiping out gains since early December. Earlier, the yellow metal had sunk to just over $4100, a level not seen since November.
Silver fell over 8.1% to $62.27 in early trading, before battling back to $64.7 an ounce, down 4% on the day and around three-month lows.
Among FTSE 100 stocks, Endeavour Mining PLC (LSE:EDV, TSX:EDV, OTCQX:EDVMF, FRA:6E2) fell 4.3% and Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) dropped 3.3%, while among mid-caps, Pan African Resources PLC (LSE:PAF, OTCQX:PAFRY, JSE:PAN) was down 7.5%, Hochschild Mining PLC (LSE:HOC, OTCQX:HCHDF, FRA:H3M) 4.1% and Atalaya Mining Copper (LSE:ATYM, TSX:AYM) slipped 3.9%.
Gold was suffering from its inverse relationship with the dollar, said market analyst Richard Hunter at Interactive Investor.
Kathleen Brooks at XTB said the gold price is "falling off a cliff", having last week lost its grip on the $5,000 handle, with $4,000 this week looking "at risk".