Silver prices trade steady amid firm gold, slide in dollar
Silver prices were trading steady on July 14, tracking firm gold and slide in the US dollar. The precious metal had declined by 0.4 percent in the previous session on the COMEX.
The white metal extended gains after a flat to gap-up start in the afternoon session.
The semi-precious metal has been trading higher than 20, 100 and 200 days’ simple moving averages but lower than the 5 and 50 days’ moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 48.63, which indicates neutral movement in the price.
Silver has turned choppy along with gold as investors evaluate Fed’s monetary stance as data showed US consumer prices rose by the most in 13 years in June.
However, weighing on the price is weaker investor interest, a slowdown in manufacturing activity globally and concerns regarding the Chinese economy.
Silver holdings in iShares ETF were unchanged for the second day at 17,267.10 tonnes. The fund NAV is trading at a discount of 0.49 percent.
The US dollar index marginally fell to 92.69, down 0.07 percent against the major cross.
Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “In other precious metals, international silver prices traded with small gains in Wednesday's early afternoon session in Asia, tracking gold and weak dollar. Technically, if LBMA Silver trades above the $26.40 level we could continue to witness the bullish momentum up to $26.65-$27.20 levels. Otherwise, prices could move back to supports at $25.70-$25.45 levels.”
“Domestic silver prices are trading with small gains on Wednesday in early afternoon trade, tracking overseas prices. Technically, MCX Silver September is trading above Rs 69,000 levels which could push prices to Rs 69,900-Rs 70,900 levels. Support is seen at Rs 68,900-Rs 68,000 levels”, Iyer added.
The spot gold/silver ratio currently stands at 69.64 to 1 indicating that gold has outperformed silver.
MCX Bulldesk modestly advanced 0.16 percent, to 14,757 at 15:20. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Gold and MCX Silver futures.
In the futures market, silver for September delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 69,224 and a low of Rs 69,012 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the precious metal has touched a low of Rs 67,700 and a high of Rs 75,215.
Silver delivery for the September contract gained Rs 20, or 0.03 percent to Rs 69,101 per kg at 15:22 hours with a business turnover of 11,154 lots. The same for the December contract jumped Rs 67, or 0.10 percent, to Rs 70,450 per kg with a turnover of 508 lots.
The value of September and December’s contracts traded so far is Rs 436.55 crore and Rs 4.64 crore, respectively.
Similarly, the Silver Mini contract for August dropped by Rs 18, or 0.03 percent at Rs 69,240 on a business turnover of 14,703 lots.
The trend in the US dollar, bond yields and equity market may continue to affect gold and silver and the focus will be on economic data from major economies, central bank comments, development related to virus situation, US-China relation and China’s crackdown on big tech firm, said Kotak Securities.
MoneyControl