Gold has fallen below $4,000 per ounce and is on course for a second consecutive monthly loss, as rising oil prices amplify inflationary pressures and a slump in technology stocks raises the risk that investors will sell the metal to cover equity losses.

The precious metal declined 1.10% to $3,981.79 per ounce after already falling more than 1% in the previous session, moving closer to its lowest level since mid-July. Silver dropped as much as 2.8% to below $51 per ounce, accumulating a loss of around 16% for the month.

“Despite silver entering oversold territory, the risk of further long liquidations and momentum-driven selling by technically oriented funds remains,” Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank, told Bloomberg, adding that this could open the door to a decline to the mid-$40s per ounce.

The US Federal Reserve has left open the possibility of an interest rate increase before the end of the year, and data released on Thursday showed that the US Personal Consumption Expenditures price index rose 0.5% last month — the largest monthly increase since March in the central bank’s preferred inflation gauge.

Gold has lost more than 4% in October, weighed down by concerns that fighting in the Middle East could resume and that energy prices will remain elevated. Oil gained after signals emerged that the United States may resume military strikes against Iran following next week’s midterm elections.

Technology stocks led a second consecutive day of global equity declines, with another round of disappointing earnings accelerating a rotation away from artificial intelligence-related bets. This followed a sharp sell-off in AI-linked shares last week, which had already dragged gold to its lowest level since July.