Silver Price News: Silver Falls to Three-Week Low

Silver prices fell sharply on Friday, as precious metals took a knock after a jump in US jobs numbers and reports that China’s central bank had stopped buying gold in May.

Silver prices fell as low as $29.17 an ounce, compared with around $31.37 an ounce in late trades on Thursday. The fall means silver more than gave up the previous day’s gains, taking the grey metal down to its lowest price since May 15 – a three-week low.

Prices came under pressure during the morning session after news reports said the People’s Bank of China had stopped adding to its official gold holdings in May, halting an 18-month period of monthly purchases. The news quickly sent gold prices lower on Friday morning, and the weakness spilled over into silver.

Adding to the downward momentum, US non-farm payrolls figures were released Friday showing a rise of 272,000 jobs in May, well above market expectations. The increase in employment painted a stronger than expected picture of the US economy in May, prompting markets to dial back their expectations of interest rate cuts in the next few months.

Looking ahead, the markets will be watching out for industrial and manufacturing data for the UK and India on Wednesday, followed by US inflation figures for May. The markets will also keep an eye on an expected US Fed interest rate decision on Wednesday, widely tipped to be no change from the current 5.5%. Of more significance will be any comments on the outlook for monetary policy as the markets try to anticipate the timing of interest rate cuts in the autumn.