Gold prices tumbled nearly 5 percent to a one-week low below $1,140 an ounce on Friday as investors fearing debt default in Dubai sought safety in dollars and cash.
Other precious metals also slipped. Silver hit a two-week low of $17.66 an ounce, while platinum and palladium touched one-week lows of $1,418.50 and $351 an ounce respectively.
Spot gold briefly hit a low of $1,136.80 a troy ounce, the lowest since November 16 and was bid at $1,161.55 an ounce at 1045 GMT from $1,192.60 on Thursday, when the precious metal hit $1,194.90 -- a record high.
"It's mainly driven by this news out of Dubai (which) has had a large impact on risk appetite and resulted in a sharply stronger dollar," said Daniel Major, a metals analyst at RBS Global Banking & Markets.
Dubai said on Wednesday two flagship firms planned to delay repaying billions of dollars in debt. State-backed Dubai World has $59 billion of liabilities -- a big chunk of the emirate's total debt of $80 billion.
That has raised the specter of default and triggered a sell-off of risky assets such as commodities and stocks.
abc
Other precious metals also slipped. Silver hit a two-week low of $17.66 an ounce, while platinum and palladium touched one-week lows of $1,418.50 and $351 an ounce respectively.
Spot gold briefly hit a low of $1,136.80 a troy ounce, the lowest since November 16 and was bid at $1,161.55 an ounce at 1045 GMT from $1,192.60 on Thursday, when the precious metal hit $1,194.90 -- a record high.
"It's mainly driven by this news out of Dubai (which) has had a large impact on risk appetite and resulted in a sharply stronger dollar," said Daniel Major, a metals analyst at RBS Global Banking & Markets.
Dubai said on Wednesday two flagship firms planned to delay repaying billions of dollars in debt. State-backed Dubai World has $59 billion of liabilities -- a big chunk of the emirate's total debt of $80 billion.
That has raised the specter of default and triggered a sell-off of risky assets such as commodities and stocks.
abc
