Silver Follows Gold, Drops 2.9 Percent to $16.70

Silver fell 2.9 percent on Tuesday to hit $16.70 an ounce, Reuters reported.

The drop came as the newly elected Greek government maintained its pledge to end Eurozone bailout cooperation, breaking down debt talks. That said, both sides have expressed an interest in reaching an agreement by the end of the week. The European Central Bank will decide on February 18 whether to maintain emergency lending to Greek banks.

The market also has its eye on Wednesday’s US Federal Reserve meeting for clues regarding an expected interest rate hike, “Minutes will be closely watched … to see what policymakers’ sensitivity is to a June rate hike,” Matthew Turner, a Macquarie analyst, told Reuters.