Quton in cotton seed production
Gold has fallen to its lowest level in two years, while wider commodity prices have also declined following disappointing Chinese economic data.
The price of the precious metal was down 9.2 percent to $1 395 an ounce.
Meanwhile, oil prices fell to four-month lows, with Brent crude down $2.29 to $100.75 a barrel, and the main US share index, the Dow Jones, ended down 1.8 percent.
This was the Dow’s biggest fall since November.
Analysts said that the explosions at the Boston Marathon also contributed to the fall in share prices.
The price of copper and aluminium were also sharply lower.
Copper fell to its lowest level in a year and a half at $7 085 a tonne, and aluminium sank to a three-and-a-half year low.
Analysts said a key factor in gold’s fall was the expectation that the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, will tighten monetary policy by stopping its quantitative easing (QE) programme.
This means that the rate of US inflation is likely to fall, meaning investors have less reason to hold gold to avoid a corresponding decline in the value of cash investments.
The price of gold has had a remarkable run in recent years, hitting a record high of $1 800.
The fall means Cyprus is likely to raise less than the 400m euros ($525m) it hoped for when it announced it was selling the bulk of its gold reserve.
