Silver Prices Remain Mostly Unchanged in Third Week of March

Silver prices during the third week of March edged slightly lower in New York and remained unchanged in London.

In the numbers, New York silver futures for May delivery ended Friday at $17.032 an ounce for a weekly loss of 2 cents, or 0.1%. In contrast, N.Y. silver dropped 33.4 cents last week after soaring 86 cents during the prior week.

London silver was fixed at $17.31 an ounce, which was the same price as last Friday. The metal had jumped to a high of $17.54 an ounce on Wednesday and was as low as $17.02 an ounce on Monday.

In this week’s silver quote, we go to a Friday article by Myra P. Saefong from MarketWatch entitled Waiting for silver’s big break. The article discusses how analysts are "upbeat" about the long-term potential for the metal, but warn of a volatile "short-term journey."

"The overall demand for silver is down compared to gold," said David Beahm, a vice president at precious metals retailer Blanchard & Co. "Since silver’s price is driven much more strongly by global industrial demand rather than investor demand, it has under performed as compared to gold."

On investing in silver, Beahm said the best way to own the metal is coins and bars, and "specifically the silver American Eagles."

Julian Phillips and Peter Spina, editors of the SilverForecaster.com, were also quoted in the article as writing:

"The fundamentals for silver are better than gold … but the ‘dips’ [for silver prices] could be frighteningly fast and large still." On the other hand, "silver will outrun gold on the rise," and could offer a considerably larger profit.

London precious metal weekly prices follow:

London Fix Precious Metal Prices
	Gold		Silver	Platinum		Palladium
	AM	PM		AM	PM	AM	PM
3/12/2010	1118.75	1106.25	17.31	1619.00	1619.00	466.00	464.00
3/19/2010	1121.50	1105.50	17.31	1623.00	1617.00	477.00	476.00

 

Weekly Bullion Prices
	Up	Down	% Change	Gain/Loss
Silver	Unchanged
Gold		X	-0.1%	-$0.75
Platinum		X	-0.1%	-$2.00
Palladium	X		2.6%	$12.00

 

These articles offer precious metals and silver coin news: In related silver and gold news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• Der Wiener Walzer Moves Counter-Clockwise – Jon Nadler, Kitco Metals Inc.
  Gold prices slipped a bit in overnight trading amid anemic Indian physical offtake and a further gain in the US dollar. The latter managed a climb back to very near the 80.50 mark on the trade-weighted index and pushed oil, base metals, and assorted other commodities a tad lower. The euro once again slid back towards the 1.35 value zone as no news of any resolution to the Greek problem was on tap for yet another day.

  Greece is still pedaling hard to obtain a clear promise of aid from the EU, but Germany continues to be holding out on the matter, and ‘confusion’ is being expressed by other members of the eurozone. It was suggested yesterday that Greece should perhaps try to get a lifeline from the IMF. Bond investors are still demanding that Greece pay three percentage points more than Germany on its 10-year debt, and the country’s Prime Minister warned that Greece can’t "afford to hold out much longer at current market rates." …

• DAV Coins Rise, Collectors Await BSA Silver Dollars
  The new US Mint weekly sales report shows solid gains for collector silver products, and decent traction for bullion American Silver Eagles. he bullion coins rose 725,000 in five days — between March 10 – 15. Totals sales for the month now stand at 1.9 million. Silver numismatic coins and sets improved nicely. The 2009 US Mint Silver Proof Set …