Silver hits fresh record after topping peak from October squeeze

[LONDON] Silver jumped to a record, surpassing a peak set during a historic squeeze in the London market in October.

Spot prices surged as much as 4.2 per cent to about US$55.66 an ounce. The white metal has been supported by rising hopes of a US Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in December, inflows into bullion-backed exchange-traded funds and ongoing supply tightness.

Friday (Nov 28) also saw erratic price moves and thin liquidity in the silver market, after a chaotic hours-long halt to trading in futures on the CME’s Comex Exchange. By early morning US-time, most trading operations were back.

Silver’s new high comes just over a month after a severe supply squeeze in the dominant silver trading hub in London last month, which sent prices soaring above levels in Shanghai and New York. While the arrival of nearly 54 million troy ounces has eased that squeeze, the market still remains markedly tight with the cost of borrowing the metal over one-month hovering above its normal level.

The flows into the London market have now put pressure on other hubs, including in China. Silver inventories in warehouses linked to the Shanghai Futures Exchange recently hit their lowest level since 2015, according to bourse data.

“In the short term, a further price increase cannot be ruled out if registered silver inventories in China continue to decline,” analysts at Commerzbank wrote in a note earlier Friday.

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Traders are also monitoring any potential tariff on silver after the precious metal was added to the US Geological Survey list of critical minerals in November. While 75 million ounces have left the vaults of the Comex futures exchange in New York since early October, fears of a sudden premium for US silver have caused some traders to hesitate before shipping metal out of the country.

Silver has surged almost 90 per cent this year, as investors pile into alternative assets in a wider retreat from government bonds and currencies, dubbed the dabasement trade. Optimism about the metal’s fundamental supply and demand balance have also supported prices – the market is set to see a fifth consecutive supply deficit this year. Unlike gold, a large share of silver demand is industrial, with applications in solar photovoltaics and electronics.

Spot silver was 4.1 per cent higher at US$55.59 an ounce as at 4.52 pm in London. Spot gold rose 1.2 per cent to US$4,207.68 an ounce. BLOOMBERG