Silver fell 4 percent on Monday as funds continued to liquidate bullish bets that had doubled prices to a record late last month, while gold was steady as uncertainty about indebted eurozone countries offset the positive influence of a weaker dollar.
Precious metals investors were eagerly awaiting regulatory filings by hedge fund managers and institutional investments due later on Monday, which will show changes in precious metal holdings in their portfolios including during the first quarter. Spot gold eased 0.2 percent to $1,490.80 an ounce by 4:16 pm EDT (2016 GMT). Bullion had hit a record high of $1,575.79 on May 2. US June gold futures settled down $3 at $1,490.60 an ounce, after trading from $1,486 to $1,504.30.
US futures trading activity was quiet with volume below 130,000 lots, sharply lower than last week's pace and about 40 percent below its 30-day norm. Gold also dragged by a more than $2 decline in US crude futures, and as US equities ended almost 1 percent lower. Silver fell 4.4 percent to $33.73 an ounce. The industrial precious metal has crashed about 30 percent since hitting a record high of $49.51 on April 28. Platinum eased 6 cents to $1,755.99 an ounce.