NEW DELHI : US financial markets witnessed extreme volatility as sharp swings in gold, silver and US equities led to an estimated USD 9 trillion movement in market capitalisation within a few hours, highlighting heightened uncertainty across asset classes.
Amid high-end volatility in gold markets, US markets saw a massive swing after prices of major commodities such as gold and silver crashed sharply before staging a strong recovery within just 6.5 hours. Gold prices initially fell by around 8 per cent but recovered swiftly, reflecting intense intraday trading activity.
Market data showed that nearly USD 9 trillion in market capitalisation changed hands during the session. Gold erased almost USD 3 trillion in value as US markets opened, before adding back close to USD 2 trillion by the market close.
Silver wiped out around USD 750 billion initially but later staged a strong reversal, adding back nearly USD 500 billion.
US equity markets also mirrored the sharp volatility. The S&P 500 erased USD 780 billion in intraday trading but recovered USD 530 billion by the close.
The Nasdaq dropped around 2.4 per cent initially and saw a wipeout of USD 760 billion before adding back USD 580 billion by the end of the session. Combined US equities erased USD 1.15 trillion intraday and recovered USD 1.07 trillion by the close.
According to a report by BullionVault, gold and silver sank from fresh record prices on Thursday, with the crash in traditional safe-haven assets knocking gold almost USD 500 per ounce lower to USD 5,100. Silver, described as an industrially useful precious metal, plunged by 11.9 per cent amid a slump in major US AI and technology stocks.
The report further noted that gold peaked on Thursday just USD 5 per ounce below USD 5,600. The 8.7 per cent fall in gold prices wiped out USD 3.4 trillion from the value of all gold estimated to be above ground. Silver also saw extreme movements, peaking above USD 121 per troy ounce, marking a rise of more than 68 per cent in January, its strongest-ever monthly gain outside December 1979. Prices later slipped to USD 107.
The fall in precious metals coincided with pressure on technology stocks, with cloud-computing and data giant Oracle falling 5.4 per cent, while chipmaker Nvidia declined 2.7 per cent at the open amid fears of an AI bubble crash.
In India, similar volatility was seen on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX). Gold prices dropped nearly 12 per cent to an intraday low of Rs 1,57,808 per 10 grams (24 karat) after touching a high of Rs 1,80,779. However, prices later recovered to around Rs 1,69,600, reflecting strong buying interest at lower levels. (ANI)
