Gold plunges to its lowest level since January

NEW YORK (AP) - Gold plunged to its lowest level since January on Wednesday as a surging dollar sapped demand for precious metals.

Gold for June delivery lost US$57.90 (S$72.91) to settle at US$1,614.10. That is a drop of 3.5 per cent and the biggest one-day fall for gold since Feb. 29.

Silver fell even more, losing US$2.22 to US$31.044 an ounce, a loss of 6.7 per cent.

The dollar rose sharply against the euro and other currencies after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting released late on Tuesday suggested that the bank wasn't ready to take more action to push interest rates lower.

The dollar reached its strongest level in almost three weeks against the euro. The euro traded at US$1.31, down almost a penny from Tuesday.