(Reuters) - Gold prices fell nearly 1 percent on Monday, extending last week's loss, which was the biggest in nearly three months, as rating agency Fitch's warning on downgrading France kept investors on the edge about the situation in Europe.
Fitch Ratings warned it may downgrade France and six other euro zone nations as it believes a comprehensive solution to the region's debt crisis is "technically and politically beyond reach."
Asian shares fell and the dollar edged higher after news of the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il fanned fears of regional instability.
Though the gold market barely reacted to Kim's death, it is prone to moves in the currency market as well as equities. Gold in recent months has been closely correlated to riskier assets, as the funding squeeze forces investors to dump gold to cover losses elsewhere.
The two-year-old euro zone debt crisis remains the overarching concern in the market. The lack of a solution, together with tightened liquidity, drove gold down more than 6 percent last week.
"In the short term we are seeing greater downside for gold," said Ong Yi Ling, an analyst at Phillip Futures, adding that $1,550 would provide support in the near term.
"Gold is still taking cues from the development in Europe -- whether there will be more sovereign debt ratings downgrades."
As financial markets enter the penultimate week of the year, liquidity is expected to shrink, with investors closing their books for the year, which may leave prices prone to wild swings.
Spot gold fell nearly 1 percent to $1,582.84 an ounce, before recovering to $1,593.29 by 0703 GMT. U.S. gold declined as much as 0.8 percent to $1,585.5, and traded at $29.01.
Technical analysis suggested spot gold could fall to $1,417 over the next three months, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
Spot silver fell 3.4 percent to an intra-day low of $28.7 an ounce, before trimming some losses to $28.96.
The most-active U.S. silver futures contract fell 3.2 percent to $28.72 and recovered to $29.01.
Gold prices will fall below $1,500 an ounce over the next three months and are unlikely to retest September's all-time highs until late 2012 at the earliest, a Reuters poll showed.
Managed money in gold futures and options cut bullish bets for the second consecutive week as the price of bullion fell sharply during the period, the latest data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, remained unchanged from a day earlier at a one-month low of 1,279.975 metric tons by Dec 17, down 15.426 metric tons, or 1.2 percent from a week earlier.
"The key factors that will determine how supported the gold market is on the downside will be whether the 'sticky' ETP (exchange-traded product) holdings remain relatively stable and whether physical demand responds to much lower prices," said Barclays Capital in a research note.
