Gold has sunk to its weakest level in two years as investors continue to sell off commodities, worried that disappointing Chinese data signalled a setback for the global economy.
Other key commodities, including oil, copper and tin, have hit multi-month lows over rising concerns.
In mid-afternoon Monday trading on the FTSE 100, the top nine fallers were all commodity and mining firms.
At that time Brent crude traded 2.43% down, gold -5.49%, silver -8.93% and platinum -3.23%.
Gold price dropped before a slight recovery just before 11.30am on Monday Monday's drop continued from Friday's selling as fears were raised about central banks turning away from stimulus packages, as gold fell below the psychologically-important $1,500-per-ounce (£980) barrier.
Gold fell more than 3%, after sliding 5.3% on Friday, as investors further slashed their bullion holdings on concern that central banks are bent on halting stimulus measures this year, cutting gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation.
Holdings on global gold exchange-traded funds hit their lowest in more than a year.
Goldman Sachs has been forced to drop its gold futures forecast for the second time this year and Cyprus said it would unload 10 tons of reserves to help fund its bank bailout - the biggest sovereign sale for several years.
Chinese construction has consumed huge quantities of steel and copper China's economy grew by 7.7% in the first quarter, undershooting market expectations for an 8% expansion.
The growth rate has frustrated investors hoping the world's second largest economy would rebound after posting its weakest expansion in 13 years in 2012.
US job creation fell 60% between January and March China's weaker than forecast GDP growth is backed by a slower increase in industrial production and fixed-asset investment, despite strong lending growth in March.
"There are questions about the trend of bottoming in China's economy and whether it can re-accelerate above 8% this year in a sustainable way," Vishnu Varathan, market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank, said.
The Chinese data comes after soft US retail sales and consumer sentiment numbers raised doubts about the economic recovery momentum, driving down commodities and equities on Friday.
US job growth has dropped from nearly a quarter of a million in January to just 88,000 in March.
Oil prices continue to slide as pump prices come under downward pressure "What we now see is panic selling, perhaps triggered by the Fed's stimulus view," Dominic Schnider, analyst at UBS Wealth Management, said.
"The Fed has given the signal that there's a possibility to reduce QE (quantitative easing) and that took a lot of trust out of gold.
"And people recognise that an environment where you have no inflation is a powerful driver to get out of the metal."
Oil futures were also hit hard after the Chinese and US data stoked investors' concerns of economic slowdown in the world's top two oil consumers.
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