He said those sales ignited speculative selling, which took the market down sharply.

However, in a day of light activity, traders said that a small amount of speculative selling was enough to bring down bond prices.

Coffee futures prices fell sharply as mild Brazilian weather led to speculative selling.

Bombay: Prices fell on heavy speculative selling after the long weekend.

But that did not quell a surge of speculative selling, nor did it attract new buyers, officials said.

Sugar prices fell sharply on heavy speculative selling amid indications that the market had passed its seasonal peak.

"But during the afternoon there was a lot of speculative selling."

Both currencies were driven down in value last week in a wave of speculative selling.

The speculative selling of the peso came a day before a national holiday in Mexico, when financial markets will be closed.

Silver prices were hammered again by heavy speculative selling, but the gold market posted only modest losses.