Silver Price News: Silver Ends Week on Back Foot

Silver prices ended the week on a quiet note, showing little convincing movement in either direction on a day-on-day basis, and ending slightly into negative territory over the week as a whole.

Prices eased very slightly to around $33.60 an ounce by Friday evening, compared with around $33.70 an ounce in late trades on Thursday. Silver did briefly spike higher to a 12-year high of $36.73 an ounce in the middle of the week, but this appeared to be an outlier trade that was not supported by sustainable volumes and the gains could not be sustained at those levels.

Silver’s performance through the week had a slightly bearish slant, contrasting with gold, which not only set a new all-time high on Wednesday, but finished the week in positive territory compared with Monday.

Stronger dollar weighs on silver

While silver’s 12-year highs may have attracted some profit-taking towards the end of the week, part of the downward pressure may have emanated from the US dollar, which has strengthened against other major currencies so far in October. This makes dollar-denominated silver more expensive for buyers in other currencies, weakening demand. In addition, yields on US 10-year treasury notes strengthened through the week, contributing to downside pressure on silver prices.

Precious metals in bullish mood

Overall though, silver remains supported by strength in the gold price, and both metals have benefited from safe haven flows due to current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties and a loosening of monetary policy by major central banks around the world, which is widely expected to continue in the coming months.

Technical analysis

On the technical charts, the recent highs for silver may now translate into an upside resistance level at $34.99 an ounce, while horizontal major support can be seen at $32.12 an ounce. The latest action has left silver prices some way above their 20-day moving average at $31.19 an ounce, while the 10-day Relative Strength Index at 64 may indicate that silver is not yet in overbought territory.

Upcoming data to watch out for

Monday is looking somewhat thin on macroeconomic data releases and traders are likely to be looking ahead to Tuesday’s US JOLTS job openings and CB consumer confidence figures for the latest snapshot on the state of the US economy.