Silver prices edged lower on Friday to end the week with losses of around 5%, a larger relative drop than that seen in the gold markets.
Silver was trading at around $27.20 an ounce by late afternoon on Friday, slightly down from Thursday’s $27.47 an ounce.
Nevertheless, after the heavy losses on April 22, silver has shown some stability through the rest of the week, apparently finding buy-side support at below the $27.00 an ounce mark. This may give silver bulls some degree of optimism that the recent sell-off has faded. Silver hit multi-year highs of close to $30.00 an ounce on April 12.
Hopes of interest rate cuts this summer appear to have faded, with most market bets now favouring September for the first rate cut by the US Fed. This higher-for-longer scenario for interest rates is notionally bearish for precious metals prices as non-interest-bearing assets.
That said, industrial demand for silver appears to be a bright spot in an otherwise more bearish demand picture. Overall global demand for silver fell by 7% in 2023, while industrial demand grew by 11% in the same year, according to figures by the Silver Institute.
Looking ahead, the markets will be watching out for Japanese industrial production figures for March on Monday, with expectations of an increase of about 3.4% compared with February’s contraction of 0.6%. Japan’s advanced economy makes the country a notable industrial consumer of silver, which is an important metal used in the production of batteries, electronics, solar panels, aerospace technology and a host of other high-tech uses.
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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