Silver price falls to 4-year low

London (Oct 2)  The price of silver has dropped to a four-year low falling 19.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2014.

Value of the precious metal declined below the $17 (£10.40) mark for the first time since 2010 after it was impacted by expectation of higher US interest rates. This move helped to strengthen the US dollar and provided the biggest quarterly rise since the second quarter of 2013 for the price of silver.

The US dollar has been a key factor in the fluctuating price of silver with the currency's index (DXY) reaching a four-year high of 86.21 on Monday (September 29th). It represented 11 weeks of gains, the longest sustained rate of growth since 1971. The Federal Reserve is now expected to raise interest rates on the back of positive US economic data.

However, this resurgence in the US' economy has placed a burden on silver. Futures of silver do look more promising with December's price due to rise by three cents to $17 on the COMEX in New York. It was only a brief boost for the precious metal after it closed on Tuesday (September 30th) at its lowest level since February 2010, InVezz reports.

More positive news was the immediate delivery of silver had increased by 0.34 per cent to $17.01 as of 08:56 BST on Wednesday. This was an improvement on drops to $16.85, recorded earlier in the week. Spot silver was also 3.4 per cent below the 200-day simple moving average of $19.893.

While silver dropped in price, gold has performed much better. The price of gold for December delivery scored a 0.3 per cent increase to $1,215.50 a troy ounce on the COMEX. It was a more positive performance following the metal's recent sharp decline.

Source: CityIndex.UK