Gold and silver experienced a sharp sell-off, causing large price drop on Tuesday.
The international spot gold price once plunged more than 6 percent, falling under 4,100 dollars per ounce and marking the largest single-day drop in 12 years.
Meanwhile, the price of spot silver also once declined by over 8 percent, dipping below 48 dollars per ounce, which posted its biggest one-day loss since 2021.
The dive was impacted by shifts in geopolitical tensions as well as investors' lock in gains.
Since the beginning of 2025, the price of gold has increased by over 50 percent, with that of silver rising by nearly 70 percent.
Analysts believe that investors previously flocked to the international precious metal market in search of safe-haven assets due to intense global situation, but prices of precious metals could undergo additional pullback if the market sentiment further eases.
Int'l spot gold, silver prices plummet
China has remained the world's largest online retail market for a 13th consecutive year, with its digital consumption exceeding 23.8 trillion yuan (about 3.39 trillion U.S. dollars), official data shows.
The figure was released at a national e-commerce work conference held from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The conference said that China's e-commerce sector has achieved solid gains in high-quality development over the past five years, emerging as a new source of momentum to foster new quality productive forces and playing an important role in advancing the country's new development paradigm.
Despite rising external uncertainties, China has continued to expand its win-win cooperation, increasing the number of Silk Road e-commerce cooperation partner countries to 36.
E-commerce has become a major engine for job creation and industrial upgrading. Employment in the sector has surpassed 78 million, and express delivery volumes have seen an average annual growth of nearly 20 percent over the past five years.
Software and information services linked to cloud computing and big data have also expanded rapidly.
The conference outlined the Ministry of Commerce's e-commerce policy priorities for 2026, including strengthening innovation-driven growth, improving the country's development environment, and expanding international cooperation.
China remains world's largest online retail market for 13th straight year
