Precious metals complex continue to plunge as silver tumbles over 10% and gold rates fall by 6%

The precious metals complex continued to nosedive on Monday, with prices in domestic and global markets falling sharply as investors switched back to bonds and currencies from gold and silver. 

Silver fell by over 10 per cent, gold by 7 per cent, platinum by 8  per cent and palladium by over 7 per cent as Friday’s hammering of the metals continued in the global and domestic markets. 

At 1230 hours IST, gold fell by over 4 per cent to $4,528.31 an ounce and gold April futures quoted at $4,546.96 on COMEX.

In the Mumbai spot market, gold opened at ₹1,42,270 per 10 gm against ₹1,48,697 on Sunday. On MCX, gold futures were quoted at ₹1,40,424, a fall of over ₹7,000 from the previous trading. 

Bonds, currencies

Silver showed the same momentum as its rise while dropping further to $73.004 an ounce, losing over 13 per cent in addition to the over 25 per cent loss on Friday.

Silver March futures on COMEX dropped to $72.55 an ounce. In the Mumbai spot market, silver slipped to ₹2,36.496 a kg against ₹2,65,751 at close on Sunday.

On MCX, silver March futures dropped by ₹36,650 to ₹2,28,002 a kg from ₹2,65,652. 

Platinum slipped below $2,000 to $1,967 an ounce, a 7.3 per cent fall, while palladium dropped to $1,587 an ounce, down 7.25 per cent from the previous close. 

Investors are switching to bonds and currencies as they feel the new Fed Chief, Kevin Warsh, will likely increase interest rates, which will lead to the strengthening of the dollar. 

Traders said the CME Group’s decision to hike the margins for gold futures to 8 per cent from 6 per cent and for silver to 15 per cent from 11 per cent also unnerved investors. Platinum and palladium too will attract the same margin as silver.  

Gold, silvelr up YTD

Despite the fall over the past two sessions, gold is up over 8 per cent since the beginning of the year, while silver’s gains have been shaved to 11.5 per cent. Platinum is down 0.4 per cent and palladium has declined by over 1 per cent.

The precious metals complex has had a sparkling rally since January 2024, with gold soaring to a new high of $5,068 an ounce and silver to $122 an ounce, before they began to tumble.

Meanwhile, pointing to the COMEX report, traders said US multinational financial services firm, JP Morgan, closed its short positions in silver on Friday.

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Published on February 2, 2026