THE prices of gold and copper yesterday suffered their biggest slump since the 2008 financial crisis as another brutal sell-off hit commodities on nagging doubts whether Europe will be able to prevent its debt crisis from dragging down the global economy.
The United Stated (US) crude fell nearly $3 and silver lost as much as 16 per cent with other base and precious metals nose-diving as investors scurried for ultimate safe havens such as cash and the dollar.
Reuters reports that the prices of three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) shed 7.6 per cent to $6,800 a tonne, its sharpest fall since October 2008, before slightly trimming losses to 5.9 per cent by late afternoon trading in Asia.
Spot gold fell 5.8 percent to $1,561.69 an ounce by 0713 GMT, its steepest single-day loss since October 2008.
Bullion, which just hit a record high of $1,920.30 on September 6, dropped to as low as $1,534.49 yesterday, its weakest since early July.
Spot silver dropped more than 16 percent to $26.04, a level not seen since ovember 2010. Platinum was down more than six percent and palladium fell 3.4 percent.
European policymakers began working on new ways to stop fallout from Greece's near-bankruptcy from inflicting more damage on the world economy after stinging criticism for failing to stem the debt crisis.
After a weekend of being told by the US, China and other countries that they must get more aggressive in their crisis response, European officials focused on ways to beef up their existing 440 billion-euro rescue fund.
Brent futures fell by $1.35 to $102.62 a barrel, after plunging 7.4 per cent last week in the biggest such loss since May 6 2011.
