Investing.com - Gold and silver sold off sharply on Thursday, as investors adjusted to a future without large scale asset purchases from the Federal Reserve.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for December delivery fell by as much as 1.93% to hit a session low of $1,201.20 a troy ounce, the weakest level since October 6.
Prices recovered to last trade at $1,205.20 during European morning hours, down $19.70, or 1.61%.
Futures were likely to find support at $1,183.30, the low from October 6, and resistance at $1,230.40, the high from October 29.
Also on the Comex, silver futures for December delivery plunged 43.1 cents, or 2.5%, to trade at $16.83 a troy ounce, the lowest since October 6.
The Federal Reserve ended its large-scale asset purchase program, known as quantitative easing, at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, as widely expected.
The Fed retained its commitment to keep interest rates near zero for a “considerable time," but sounded more hawkish on the labor market, saying that “underutilization of labor resources is gradually diminishing.”
Prior statements from the Fed described the slack in the jobs market as "significant."
The US dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, surged to a three-and-a-half-week high, as market players brought forward expectations of when the Fed would eventually raise rates.
Dollar-denominated futures contracts tend to fall when the dollar rises, as this makes commodities more expensive for buyers in other currencies.
Elsewhere in metals trading, copper for December delivery sank 3.7 cents, or 1.2%, to trade at $3.067 a pound.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish preliminary data on third quarter GDP, as well as the weekly report on initial jobless claims. In addition, Fed Chair Janet Yellen was to speak at an event in Washington.