While Asian markets varied following a Wall Street rise that showed symptoms of exhaustion, gold and silver continued their decline from record highs.
Gold saw its largest intraday slump in over a dozen years on Tuesday, falling as high as 6.3% before settling at $4,004.26 per ounce, down 2.9% at one point. After dropping 7.1% in the previous session, silver also fell more than 2% at one point to about $47.6.
Amid rising concerns that the rallies have entered bubble territory, the decline in gold and silver highlighted a wave of profit-taking following their sharp increases this year.
According to Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, "profit-taking moves started to snowball." According to him, the drops are a result of "strong temptation for traders to profit at price levels which have never been seen before in the gold market."

While Japanese benchmarks were neutral, Australian equities and Hong Kong equity index futures declined. After the S&P 500 closed Tuesday with minimal movement, US share futures slightly declined. Treasury bonds saw an increase on Tuesday.
A dollar measure was unchanged on Wednesday, but Treasury bonds rose on Tuesday.
Following a strong run this year, driven by central bank demand and worries about the fiscal soundness of nations like the US, precious metals saw abrupt drops.

Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, stated that profit-taking actions began to accumulate. "High temptation for traders to take profit at price levels which have never been seen before in the gold market" is what he said the dips reflect.

Hong Kong equity index futures and Australian equities declined, while Japanese benchmarks showed mixed results. Following Tuesday's little-changed closing of the S&P 500, US share futures slightly declined. On Tuesday, treasuries rose.
On Tuesday, Treasury bonds rose, but on Wednesday, a dollar measure remained unchanged.
Precious metal prices experienced abrupt drops after a strong run this year, driven by central banks' demand and worries about the budgetary stability of nations like the US.