Gold futures declined on Tuesday in reaction to recent comments by US Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke in which he showed his concerns over weak economic growth and sluggish employment rate for US. Investor shifted their focus from safe haven status of gold as many expected strong deflationary pressures for the futures.

Bernanke commented, “Recent indicators, including new claims for unemployment insurance and surveys of hiring plans, point to the likelihood of more sluggish job growth in the period ahead.”

Keith Springer from Springer Financial Advisors commented, “Gold is waking up to two sobering facts: that a [third round of quantitative easing] is not on the way, and slower growth worldwide is deflationary and therefore bad for gold,” he further added, “Absent either of those, there’s little reason to own gold — except for a catastrophic hedge, which would be very short lived.”

Gold futures contract for December delivery fell 2.5 percent or $41.70 on Tuesday to settle at $1,616 per ounce on Comex trading of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Silver futures contract for December delivery fell 3.1 percent or $0.96 to settle at $29.84 per ounce which also happens to be its lowest since the month of February.

Copper futures contract for December delivery declined $0.05 to $3.10 per pound. Platinum futures contract for January delivery also plunged 3.2 percent or $48.50 to settle at $1,468.80 per ounce while palladium futures contract for December delivery dropped 5 percent or $29.60 to $564.15 per ounce.