New Delhi, March 19 -- Selling pressure in precious metals deepened in Thursday's evening session, pushing both gold and silver to multi-week lows on MCX, even as tensions in the Middle East remained elevated.

The April gold futures contract has crashed Rs.8,810 per 10 grams to reach the day's low of Rs.1,44,215 per 10 grams, marking the lowest level since early February. Today's sharp fall in the yellow metal has led to an 11% decline in March so far and has also reduced year-to-date returns to just 6.60%.

Silver, which is more volatile than gold, has fallen even more sharply, dropping Rs.25,500 per kilogram to Rs.2,22,234, marking the lowest level since late December.

With today's decline, the white metal's month-to-date fall has wid...