Precious metals markets suffered their sharpest drop in over a decade on Tuesday, with spot gold prices falling 6.3% to $4,082.03 per ounce and silver down 8.7% to $47.89.

The sell-off was fueled by improving U.S.–China trade talks, a stronger U.S. dollar, and a lack of speculative data amid the U.S. government shutdown.

Analysts said the correction followed technical saturation in the markets after weeks of strong gains.