Gold drops $4 during session

Prices for both precious and base metals were lower on Monday. Gold dropped by more than $4 to trade in a range around $638.90/$639.65 per troy ounce, while silver dropped 2 percent to $12.65/$12.70 per troy ounce. Platinum was also lower, falling more than 2 percent to trade around $1,171/$1,176 per troy ounce. Analysts said that the declines have to do with investors wanting more liquidity in their holdings, which they are achieving by selling off their commodities, including metals.

Base metals were also lower, with copper down $170 to $5,850 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange. Copper was down nearly 8 percent since hitting a high for the year so far just last week.