Gold suffers biggest one-day drop in three decades

First up tonight, gold has been losing its lustre in recent days. Prices of the precious metal suffered their sharpest fall since the 1980s on Monday, as a selling frenzy that began on Friday picked up speed.

That's now triggered worries that the extended bull run in the gold market may have come to an end. Quan Xiangqin looks at what's making the precious metal lose its shine.

And here's the latest on the gold market...The yellow metal saw a mild rebound on Tuesday, climbing over one percent after big sell-offs during previous sessions.

The gold market is not as bright as it used to be. The precious metal saw the biggest one-day drop in more than three decades. Gold prices tumbled about nine percent to settle at below 1,400 dollars per ounce on Monday. The freefall came as China's economy grew less than expected, dampening investor hopes for the global economy.

The selling frenzy began late last week when Cyprus announced a plan to sell some of its gold reserves, igniting concerns other weak euro zone countries could follow suit.

In addition, there are other factors attributing to the decline. Nick Beecroft, the chairman and market analyst of SAXO BANK, said "There may be a psychology that with Japan doing so much quantitative easing that may take the pressure off the US, to continue QE for as long as might have been expected. That could lead the dollar to strengthen over time, so there you have the dynamic that could explain the gold coming down against the dollar."

Investors are rushing to get out of the market amid concerns a bear run is underway. But some analysts are not overly concerned. Chris Beecham, said "It depends on where you look and your perspective. If you are looking from a far longer time frame then the bear market in gold has started. But it really hasn't dented the long up-trend."

Gold is often seen as a safe-haven investment, a place to park money when investors are fearful of turmoil in other markets. It has enjoyed a stellar run over the past decade. Prices surged more than sevenfold since 2001 to an all-time high of 1,920 dollars in 2011.