NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters) - COMEX gold futures fell to their lowest level in three months as gold players bailed out of their holdings in droves on Friday, bringing a tumultuous week to a bearish close.
Gold weakened as U.S. stock markets clung to positive territory for most of the session and the U.S. dollar reclaimed its dominant position against the yen and euro.
In the steepest weekly sell-off in 2-3/4 years, spot gold ruptured one support level after another. On Friday, a series of stop-loss sell orders were triggered that fed on itself in a frenzied session where investors rushed to dump gold.
COMEX estimated that 94,000 lots changed hands on Friday, compared with 54,020 contracts on Thursday.
Benchmark August gold futures at the New York Mercantile Exchange tumbled $6.40 an ounce to finish at $303.30 an ounce, but not before hitting a session low at $300.50. Friday's high was $310.60 an ounce. The week's high was $326.
Spot gold > lost ground to $303.50/304 an ounce, well below Thursday's close at $309.60/0.10. The late gold fix in London was $304.95 an ounce.
The latest Commitment of Traders data, released after the close, showed funds still held net long gold positions of 26,238 and speculators had a long gold exposure of 40,715 as of last Tuesday.
After the heavy selling that took place this week, traders said they thought by Friday those numbers were significantly smaller.
On Friday, some gold traders said they thought many players were not only continuing to liquidate long positions, as was the case for most of the week, but were also seen taking out new short positions.
Some bullion dealers said they thought Friday's low around $300 might serve as support while gold consolidated its massive losses for the week, but others said they saw the slaughter continuing into next week.
Some players said they do not expect any basing action until spot gold hits $298 or even the March low around $287.
Silver suffered massive losses as well, with its fortunes tied to those of gold.
COMEX September silver futures plunged to $4.665 an ounce, a loss of 19 cents. Trading ran from $4.595 to $4.86.
Spot silver tumbled too, with the late Friday quote at $4.665/685 a sharp drop below Wednesday's close at $4.84/86. The London fix was $4.8250 an ounce.
The CFTC's Commitment of Traders report showed funds net long silver by 26,238 positions as of Tuesday. Speculators were reported with a net long exposure of 40,715 at Tuesday.
Traders said they thought the silver data, too, were well out of date by Friday, with silver's losses mirroring gold's.
NYMEX October platinum rose $5.40 to $523.20 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted at $527/532 an ounce. September palladium futures gained $2.85 to $334.45 an ounce. Spot palladium traded at $327/337 an ounce.