Gold prices fell further on Friday and were on track to post their biggest weekly drop in nearly seven years, as a rout in global equities forced investors to cover margin calls. pot gold was down 0.9% to $1,562.30 an ounce, after a more than 3% sell-off in the previous session. For the week, it was down about 6.7% - the biggest since June 2013. U.S. gold futures fell 1.7% to $1,563.10. A significant sell-off in equities would place further pressure on gold as investors would liquidate positions to meet margin calls, ANZ analyst Daniel Hynes said. Asia’s stock markets were hammered as panic gripping world financial markets deepened and even safe-haven assets were ditched to cover losses in the wipeout. The European Central Bank approved fresh stimulus measures to help the euro zone economy cope with the growing cost of the epidemic, but kept interest rates unchanged. The Federal Reserve moved to stem a market meltdown on Thursday with offers of $1.5 trillion in short-term loans that some analysts say could point to more aggressive action from the central bank in coming days to stimulate the economy. Airlines appealed for urgent government financial support as U.S. carriers rushed to cut flights to Europe in the wake of new U.S. travel restrictions.