Silver Spot Price Rebounds on Industrial Demand
LONDON (Sept 2) Silver today rose for the first time in four days due to increased offtake by industrial units and coin makers at existing lower levels and a firming trend in international markets, despite diminished threat of an imminent US military strike against Syria.
On Saturday, US President Barack Obama announced he would seek congressional approval for a military strike against targets of the Syrian regime for the alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians by Syrian government forces. Congressional leaders have agreed to discuss military action against Syria after lawmakers return from their summer recess on September 9. In the UK, David Cameron’s cabinet last week failed to win approval from Parliament for British participation in military action.
In addition to the congressional decision on the Syrian issue, many economists and investors await the September 17-18 Fed meeting, where the Federal Open Market Committee (FOCM) will discuss whether they should start scaling back their commodities-friendly monetary stimulus programme. The possible withdrawal would hurt precious metals prices after easy central bank money pushed gold prices to an all-time high of about $1,900 in 2011.
Silver has lost 22.5 percent of its value so far during the year. The price is now 52.5 percent below its all-time high of nearly $50 an ounce reached at the beginning of 2011.