Daily Gold Update

Source: Marketwatch

San Francisco— Silver futures slid Tuesday, dragging down gold and other commodities after the main U.S. metals exchange again announced higher margin requirements to trade silver. Silver for July delivery fell $3.50, or 7.6%, to settle at $42.59 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was silver�s biggest one-day drop since December 2008. Silver traded as low as $42.42 an ounce, according to preliminary figures available at the CME Group Inc.�s website. The CME owns Comex.

Gold for June delivery also ended lower, down $16.70, or 1.1%, to $1,540.40 an ounce. That was gold�s biggest one-day drop since March 15. Oil and other commodities were under pressure as some investors might have been forced to sell to meet the new margin requirements for silver, O�Neill said. CME raised silver�s initial margin requirements to $16,200 per futures contract from $14,513 per contract, the exchange operator said in a statement Monday afternoon. Maintenance margins were set at $12,000 from $10,750 a contract. The revised margin requirements will take effect from the close of trading Tuesday, CME said. See full story.