Gold continues to lose value sharply while silver slides again too. Live from the UK, this is the

Marketplace Morning Report from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Nick Rishi. After a historic

rally, gold has seen its biggest drop in more than a decade. Silver is also down after sharp

swings in Asia trading. The past two years have seen a

remarkable rise in value for both precious metals, fuelled by lower interest rates, a weak US dollar

and global uncertainty. However, gold remains significantly up in value compared to early

2024. The BBC's Nick Marsh has more for us from Singapore. Hi, Nick. Hello, Nick. So what is

behind this rapid decline, Nick? Well, it started on Friday last week when there was some really

big drops, about 10% in the price of gold. That was linked to a couple of things. President Trump confirming that he's appointing someone called Kevin Warsh as the new chair of gold. That was linked to a couple of things. President Trump confirming that he's appointing

someone called Kevin Walsh as the new chair of America's central bank, the Federal Reserve.

That caused the value of the dollar to go up a little bit because interest rates might not go

down as much as previously expected. Also, he's seen as a safe pair of hands and someone who might preserve the independence

of the Federal Reserve, to put it in very sort of simplistic terms. And where's this going from here

after today, do we reckon? I'm loath to give predictions, to be perfectly honest with you,

because if you'd told me that this would happen this time last week, I'd have been quite

surprised.

There was always the chance that there was going to be some kind of correction after two years, literally of rise and rise and rise, for various reasons, because of low interest rates, because of very chaotic US trade and foreign policy, you know, a year of tariffs and market turmoil

and that sort of thing. And that all leads investors to want to invest more in precious metals

because they're seen as safe havens. And also central banks. I mean, the China central bank

has been buying so much gold bullion for its reserves.

Lots of Chinese private investors have been doing the same.

And it's important to keep it in perspective.

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