Gold price plunges after record highs
Gold fell below $1,800 in trading Wednesday, the steepest drop since 2008 and a stunning reversal after record-setting highs earlier this week as investors cashed out of the market.
Gold futures ended the regular session down by $104, or a 5.6 percent drop to $1,757 an ounce. Just two days ago, the gold price crossed the $1,900 mark for the first time, Dow Jones Newswires reports.
More precious metal news from GlobalPost: Gold hits record highs as US stocks take continued beating
Gold is still up 24 percent for the year, the Associated Press notes.
While the precious metal has surged in recent weeks as a "safe haven" from market uncertainty amid economic and political crisis, some analysts spoke of an end to gold's bull run.
Analysts at Mirae Asset in Hong Kong have cautioned that the yellow metal is in a bubble that will soon burst, CNBC says.
Others chalked up Wednesday's slump to a correction from gold's rapid rise.
“On average, approximately 44 per cent of the gains made in the price of gold during rallies have been eroded in subsequent corrective periods,” Paul Burchell at Dundee Securities Corp. said in a note, using data going back six years, according to the Toronto Globe and Mail.
"Given the upside we've seen in such a short period of time I'm not surprised to see today's move," Matt Zeman, head of trading at Kingsview Financial, told Dow Jones Newswires.