Gold rout continues with 7% slump in early trading

Gold's slide into a bear market has accelerated this morning as prices fell a further 5% to a two-year low of under $1,400.

The price of bullion fell 7% in this morning's trading to $1,392, with silver prices collapsing in tandem to trade 10% lower at $23 an ounce, the lowest level since October 2010. The gold price fall continued a sell-off sparked by talk of Cyprus selling gold reserves last week. The precious metal has now fallen 26% from its September 2011 record high of $1,920, and is down over 12% since last Wednesday alone. Gold and silver mining companies saw even larger drops in Monday's trading, with Centamin, Fresnillo, Randgold Resources and African Barrick Gold all falling between 8% and 10%. ...