As expected earlier today, gold and silver reversed sharply to the downside, cutting some of the huge gains recorded yesterday, where the strengthening U.S. dollar in addition to the profit-taking transactions performed by investors sent the shiny metal and silver south.

Spot gold shed so far 0.31% or $5.45 per ounce after the opening of $1759.13 per ounce to currently trade around $1753.68 per ounce. The metal set so far the highest at $1760.35 and the lowest at $1749.35 per ounce.

Moreover, the pessimism seen in the market led investors to liquidate their position on gold in order to cover some of the huge losses incurred today, as investors are still assessing the second bailout for Greece, which is expected to be insufficient to overcome the debt crisis.

furthermore, the heavy load of downbeat fundamentals released today from the old continent added negativity to the market pressuring currencies and metals to the downside, as investors flee to the low yielding U.S. dollar in order to avert as much risk as possible.

The flow of downbeat fundamentals started with Germany, which released the PMI manufacturing and services advanced indexes for February, missing expectations and indicating at a weak pace of growth and recovery in the euro zone largest economy, which was followed by weak data from France and the euro area region.

Among other precious metals, silver shed so far 0.73% or $0.25 per ounce to currently trade around $34.06 an ounce, compared with the opening level of $34.31 per ounce. The metal reached so far a high of $34.38 and a low of $33.92 per ounce.

platinum was able to record gains, where the industrial-linked metal was affected sharply by the upbeat manufacturing performance in China, where according to the HSBC flash manufacturing PMI for February, the Chinese sector remained contracted in the month, yet it improve to 49.7 from 48.8, adding positivity to the market that China is recovering from the debt crisis in Europe which triggered the global slowdown.

Platinum added so far 0.74% or $12.50 per ounce after the opening of $1687.75 per ounce to currently trade around $1699.25 per ounce. The metal set so far the highest at $1709.75 and the lowest at $1686.50 per ounce.