CHICAGO, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Gold futures on the COMEX Division of the New York Mercantile Exchange ended lower for the second straight session on Tuesday as investors sold the precious metal to raise cash amid worries about the spreading swine flu. Silver and platinum went down, too.

    Gold price for June delivery fell 14.60 U.S. dollars, or 1.6 percent, to settle at 893.60 dollars an ounce, touching as low as 884.60 dollars earlier in the session.

    The swine flu crisis is getting worse and worse as the confirmed cases and suspected ones increased sharply across the world. Amid the worries that a pandemic will slow economic recovery, investors opted to sell off the commodities to raise money against the uncertainty risk.

    The step-up economic recession caused by swine flu is also considered to reduce gold demand in the long run. Analysts said the physical demand for the precious metal is slowing since China has been buying up its gold reserves.

    India is the world biggest gold buyer, but the imports have slowed significantly over the last three months due to the weak rupee, which made gold more expensive to local buyers as the precious metal is denominated in dollar.

    July silver finished at 12.426 dollars per ounce, down 55.9 cents. July platinum dropped 48.70 dollars to 1101.60 dollars per ounce.