Gold and silver continued heading lower Wednesday morning amid encouraging reports on U.S. housing starts and industrial output, as well as ongoing concerns about the future of Greece, Spain and the rest of the eurozone.

Spot gold was down 0.11%, bid at $1,542.60 per ounce. Prices reached as high as $1,553.50 and as low as $1,534.10, according to Kitco market data. The London afternoon reference price was set at $1,548.50, down $8 per ounce from Tuesday’s afternoon reference price.

Spot silver was showing a 0.29% loss, bid at $27.64 an ounce. The morning high as of time of writing was $28.10, with the low reaching $27.33. Wednesday’s reference price was set at $27.25, $1.03 an ounce below Tuesday’s price fix.

Housing starts increased a seasonally adjusted 2.6%, totaling 717,000 in April, the Commerce Department reported, while the national output of mines, factories and utilities increased 1.1%, according to the Federal Reserve. April’s increase in industrial output was the largest since December 2010. Residential housing starts were 29.9% higher in April on a year-to-year basis.

Having dropped to a four-month low, forex trade saw a wavering in the decline of the euro vis-a-vis the dollar as Greece prepares a second national election. The British pound’s value against the dollar, meanwhile, fell the most in a month.

Gold bullion prices jumped $10 higher per ounce in London morning trading Wednesday after hitting a new five-month low of $1,527, BullionVault reported.

“Selling continued in Asia today across all exchanges for gold and silver and palladium,” BullionVault quoted a note from Swiss refinery and finance group MKS’s Far Eastern office.

“We have given up waiting for a bounce,” another Singapore dealer said. “The market will do what it needs to do to clean out the weakly margined before it becomes healthy once again.”

Gold trusts were fluctuating between small losses and gains, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV) continued to lose ground.

• The SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD) was trading mostly flat.
• The iShares Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU) was up less than 0.1%.
• The iShares Silver Trust was some 0.3% lower.

Gold and silver mining ETFs were moving lower.

• The Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) was showing losses of around 1.5%.
• The Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDXJ) was down some 1.2%.
• The Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSE:SIL) was down some 0.25%.

Gold mining shares were rallying in morning trading.

• Agnico-Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) was up around 2.7%.
• Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) was around 1.3% higher.
• Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) was up nearly 2%.
• Goldcorp (NYSE:GG) was up nearly 1.5%.
• Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) was up around 1.3%.
• Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM) was showing gains of around 1.2%.
• NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) was up some 1.55%.
• Yamana Gold (USA) (NYSE:AUY) was up some 2.65%.

Silver mining shares were showing gains as well, Silver Standard Resources (NASDAQ:SSRI) the exception.

• Coeur d’Alene Mines (NYSE:CDE) was up around 1%.
• Hecla Mining (NYSE:HL) was some 1.2% higher.
• Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) was showing gains of around 1.5%.
• Silver Wheaton (NYSE:SLW) was up around 1.45%.
• Silver Standard Resources was down some 1.2%.

As of this writing, Andrew Burger did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Adrian Ash of BullionVault contributed to this report.