Gold retreats from high

Gold - which suffered its biggest one-day decline since 2008 yesterday - continued to fall today, as global markets grew slightly more optimistic about the economy.

Spot prices for the precious metal fell 2.5% to $1706.8 an ounce, following a 9% plunge yesterday. That came after the price of gold, regarded as a safe haven in uncertain economic times, hit a record $1,913.50 an ounce on Tuesday. The jump was mainly in anticipation of another round of US quantitative easing, which would erode the value of the dollar.

In 1930, gold cost just $21 an ounce. By 1975, it had jumped to $151. When Gordon Brown sold 400 tons of the UK's bullion reserves between 1999 and 2002, the price was at a 20-year low, an average of just $275 an ounce.