Silver crashes, gold drops more than 3% in early trade

Silver prices saw a sharp fall on Thursday morning as fresh volatility hit the precious metals market, with both silver and gold coming under heavy pressure.

In early Asian trading, silver plunged by more than 15 per cent, sliding to a low of $73.57 per ounce.

Gold also moved lower, shedding over three per cent to trade around $4,971.55 an ounce.