Following the earthquake, tsunami in Japan, and the subsequent fall in stock markets, the prices of precious metals, gold and silver have taken a slight dip. There was a 1 percent drop in gold prices on Tuesday, as fresh news about explosions at the Japanese nuclear plants further stagnated the stock markets. The day before gold had risen by 1 percent but saw a drop of $10.70 an ounce to $1,415.95. Speculators were seen selling gold in a move to cover losses and holdings in ETF dropped to their lowest since May last year, as reported.

The drop in silver was around 3 percent and platinum and palladium dropped over 1 percent. Market analysts assume that the situation seems ‘consolidating’ but if investors get too eager to sell equities, gold investors will sell gold too, but if the situation becomes grave then people will ‘go gold as the last resort’, it was reported. The premiums for gold bars stood steady between $1.00 and $1.50 an ounce with spot London prices in Hong Kong and Singapore, and with no signs of safe-haven buying due to Japan’s catastrophe.