Gold and Silver both registered declines, with silver dropping for a third consecutive day, its worst run since January. Silver future last settled in at USD $ 41.295 an ounce, declining by 3.03 percent. Gold future fell by 0.46 percent to USD $ 1533.30 an ounce.
The decline in silver was due to the Comex’s owners, CME Group, raising the minimum amount of cash to be deposited when borrowing from brokers to trade for silver from USD $ 14513 per contract to USD $ 16200 per contract. They did this in order to ease the speculation levels in trading of silver that had brought about record price levels for the precious metal. The increase in the cash to be deposited has discouraged investors from over speculating on the commodity, hence leading to the fall in its price level.
Gold declined after the Wall Street Journal reported that Soros Fund Management, the $28 billion hedge fund managed by Keith Anderson, sold off most of its gold and silver holdings since it perceived low risk of deflation. The decline in gold was also brought about by the bearish run of silver.