The price of bullion fell 7% in this morning’s trading to $1,392, with silver prices collapsing in tandem to trade 10% lower at $23 an ounce, the lowest level since October 2010.

The gold price fall continued a sell-off sparked by talk of Cyprus selling gold reserves last week. The precious metal has now fallen 26% from its September 2011 record high of $1,920, and is down over 12% since last Wednesday alone.

Gold and silver mining companies saw even larger drops in Monday’s trading, with Centamin, Fresnillo, Randgold Resources and African Barrick Gold all falling between 8% and 10%.

This morning’s sell-off has seen gold prices mirror the falls seen in risk assets after disappointing Chinese growth data, in stark contrast to its former role as a safe haven asset.

Investment bank analysts have also questioned the precious metal’s status. Earlier this month Société Générale suggested the gold era is “coming to an end”, while Goldman Sachs last Wednesday advised shorting the precious metal.

Goldman had put a $1,450 year-end price target on gold, but subsequent falls have seen the metal slump well beneath this mark.