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SYDNEY, Apr 21 (Reuters) A broad sell-off in gold and silver accelerated on Friday as speculators took profits after the prices of both metals raced to their highest in more than two decades this week, setting the stage for active European trading.

The drop, coupled with declining industrial metals prices, ripped into the mining-weighted Australian stock market, which fell 26.8 points to 5,250.1.

The world's top miner, BHP Billiton shed 2.9 percent to A$30.10, and the second-biggest miner, Rio Tinto Ltd./Plc. , dropped 3.4 percent to A$80.80. The two stocks, which account for 13.6 percent of the main index, raced to record peaks early this week, tracking strong gains in metals prices.

As silver came under the hammer of sellers -- losing as much as 4 percent after a big tumble in the last COMEX session -- dealers predicted the metal would be hard-pressed to retest soon the $14-per-ounce-plus levels hit earlier this week.

CBH Resources, which sells about 950,000 ounces of silver a year to Coeu d'Alene Mines Corp. in the United States, lost 6.3 percent.

Spot gold last fetched $613.40/$615.20. That was still up 18 percent this year, but well under Thursday's high of around $645. Gold fell as low as $619.20/620.00 an ounce in New York after London's late fix was set at $625 before opening in Sydney at $611.50/$612.30 an ounce.

''Gold and silver were certainly benefiting from speculative money and that was never going to be sustainable,'' Australia&New Zealand Bank commodities analyst Andrew Harrington said.

Sharp declines in gold futures helped set the stage for sales in the spot market, with COMEX June gold falling by as much as $25 on Thursday. It settled at $623.10, off $12.90, or 2 percent.

TOKYO GOLD TUMBLES That triggered a tumble in Tokyo gold futures of nearly 4 percent on Friday.

Benchmark February TOCOM gold futures fell by their daily 90-yen limit, or 3.69 percent, to 2,350 yen ($20.01) per gram from Thursday, when it closed at 2,440 yen -- the highest for a benchmark contract since January 1986.

The spot April TOCOM contract, which does not have a daily limit, fell as much as 106 yen.

Declining world oil prices that eased longer-term global inflationary concerns also soured investors' appetite for gold, often seen as a hedge against a weaker U.S. dollar.

Oil fell nearly $1 on Friday on profit taking by fund investors after a rally to record highs, though prices held above $72 on tensions over Iran's nuclear programme and other supply disruption worries.

''With oil going down, gold was quick to follow,'' another dealer said.

Spot silver last cost $12.20/$12.30 an ounce, down from $12.43/12.46 an ounce in late New York trade and Thursday's London fix at $14.31.

''We are seeing very broad-based selling, with profit taking by big speculative position holders,'' a dealer said.

A steadier U.S.dollar -- the currency rose more than half a percent against the euro and British pound and inched up against the Japanese yen -- also pried more gold away from investors.

Brokers said equities investors were taking a lead from the U.S. market overnight, where the CBOE Gold Index <.gox> was off 6.59 percent, with every component lower.

The broader Philadelphia Gold/Silver Index <.xau> was off 6.11 percent. At least 10 miners were among the top-20 percentage losers on the New York Stock Exchange.

Spot platinum was down $1 versus late New York at $1,096/$1,102 an ounce.

Spot palladium was down $5.50 at $340.50/344.50 an ounce.

($1=117.43 yen) REUTERS CS SND1353