New | Oil, gold lead sell-off that sees commodities slide to lowest in 13 years

Oil traded below US$50 a barrel and gold near a five-year low after a sell-off that's seen commodities slide to the lowest in 13 years.

More losses are expected in the coming months for gold following Monday's "bear raid" when sellers dumped an estimated 33 tonnes in two minutes.

The sudden bout of selling in Shanghai and New York occurred during illiquid trading hours, with a wave of orders placed during a one-minute period shortly after the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened on Monday.

Within a further minute, the deals had been completed, sending the most-active US gold futures contract down US$48 to as low as US$1,080.00 per ounce, its weakest since February 2010. Gold worth US$1.3 billion changed hands on the Chinese and US markets, and the lack of liquidity on a day when Japanese markets were closed for a holiday hastened the slide.

Spot gold was trading for US$1,105.70 per ounce on Tuesday, but Monday's move has left the market vulnerable to further slippage - possibly paving the way toward US$1,000 per ounce.

Among other precious metals, platinum, which hit a 61/2-year low on Monday, was up 0.6 per cent, while palladium dropped 3.4 per cent to its lowest since October 2012 at US$593 an ounce.