Silver prices looked more stable on Thursday, having dropped sharply the previous day.
Silver spent most of the day trading in a range of $22.95 to $23.05 an ounce, save for a brief drop to as low as $22.70 halfway through the afternoon session. That compared with a sharp fall from as high as $23.74 an ounce on Wednesday.
Silver’s price action largely mirrored activity in the gold market mid-week, with prices similarly stabilising after a sharp drop on Wednesday.
The markets were watching for further signals on interest rates after data this week indicated a stronger-than-expected US economy, which curbed the chances of early interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
On the fundamentals side, total global silver demand remains elevated by historical standards, with 2023 being the second highest year for demand, even taking into account an estimated 10% drop compared with 2022’s record levels, according to data from The Silver Institute.
Of more significance than the year-on-year change is the underlying balance in the market: 2023 saw an estimated 140-million-ounce global physical supply deficit, which came on top of a larger net shortfall of 253 million ounces in 2022.
Looking ahead, Friday will see the release of monthly US Non-Farm Payrolls data as well as factory orders for November, for the latest signals on the US economy.
Frank’s experience covering the commodities markets spans 22 years, with a particular specialism in metals, carbon and energy markets. He has worked as a senior editor for S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts) and before this, at ICIS-LOR, a part of Reed Business Information (Reed Elsevier), where he covered the petrochemicals markets from 2003 to 2005.
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