Photographer: Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg
Photographer: Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg
Silver rose at the opening of the week, with futures hovering above $ 29 an ounce in a matter of minutes as the Reddit-inspired frenzy that irritated stock markets last week spilled over into commodities.
The extraordinary rise came after retailers were so overwhelmed by the demand for bars and coins over the weekend. Outlets including Apmex, Walmart’s precious metal products in North America, said they were unable to process orders until Asian markets opened due to unprecedented consumption.
“It’s been crazy: over the weekend we’ve seen accounts open for three weeks in just a couple of days,” said John Feeney, business development manager for Guardian Vaults in Sydney. “Silver has risen at the opening this morning as all that weekend volume went on the market.”
Silver futures are almost over 6% more last week after a jump on Thursday and Friday amid Reddit-style enthusiasm from hordes of retail investors. Unlike overdue stocks aimed at the equity market included GameStop Corp., silver, performed well over the past year, reaching more than 50% as the dollar fell and expected a global pandemic recovery.
The most active futures gained up 8.7%, to $ 29.25 per ounce, on the Comex, the highest price since September, and traded at $ 28,855 at 7:51 in Singapore. Gold futures rose as much as 1.1% to $ 1,870 an ounce
“Given that there are many retail investors interested and aware of this story, and that they are likely to be motivated and committed, the price could continue,” said Nicholas Frappell, global CEO of ABC Bullion, based in Sydney .
Comments on silver started appearing on the Reddit r / wallstreetbets forum last week. People began to demand each other to stack up at the iShares Silver Trust, the largest publicly traded product in the metal, said banks have kept silver prices artificially low, masking a real supply shortfall.
Still, some of Wall Street’s largest banks have been positive on the silver outlook in recent months amid a broad rise in commodities. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. he described it as the “favorite precious metal,” according to a Jan. 27 note that had a target price of $ 30 an ounce.
In addition, money managers have maintained a net long position on silver since mid-2019, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission futures and options data. In the week until January 26, the net bullish bets on the metal were maximum in three weeks.
Silver is usually more volatile than its sister metal, gold, which is much more expensive, and often shows strong changes in prices. In addition to its role as a speculative asset and accumulator of value, it has industrial uses, including solar panels.
– With the assistance of Jake Lloyd-Smith, Matt Turner, Yvonne Yue Li, Ranjeetha Pakiam and James Thornhill