Gold, silver tumble Wednesday - UPI.com NEW YORK, Feb. 29 (UPI) -- The price of gold dropped sharply in New York Wednesday as investors found themselves overextended following remarks by the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman. Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to mention another round of stimulus policies in his remarks to the House Finance Committee Wednesday. The lack of a new round of accommodating measures meant some investors had over-hedged with precious metals against weaker currency rates that quantitative easing promotes. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold shed $77.10 to reach $1,711.30 per troy ounce, off by 4.3 percent. Silver gave up $2.56 or 3.9 percent to $34.64 per ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude oil held even, gaining 36 cents to $106.91 per barrel. The dollar index up 0.72 percent to 78.79. The euro fell to $1.3329 from Tuesday's $1.3462. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 81.26 yen from 80.47 yen. The British pound rose to $1.5921 from $1.5901. The dollar fell to 0.989 Canadian dollars from 0.9952. The Australian dollar fell to $1.0732 from $1.0767.