Silver Prices Soften in Second Week of March

Silver prices started the first week of March higher, marking the fourth straight week of gains. This week prices softened, rising 0.3% in London and falling 1.9% in New York.

New York silver futures for May delivery ended at $17.048 an ounce on Friday, dropping 33.4 cents on the week after soaring 86 cents during the prior week.

London silver was fixed at $17.31 an ounce, rising just 6 cents in the second week of March after surging $1.13 during the first.

In this week’s silver quote, we go back to a Wednesday article from Bloomberg entitled Gold-Silver Ratio Slumps to Six-Week Low as Risk Appetite Grows. The article discusses how the gold to silver ratio plunged to a six-week low, and how silver has "outperformed gold as risk appetite improved."

"Silver has industrial uses and tends to perform better than gold in times of economic growth," said Jia Wei, analyst at Jiangsu Suwu Futures Brokerage Co. "When people are risk- averse they buy gold and when risk appetite increases, silver, or even the platinum group metals, are the preferred choice."

London precious metal weekly prices follow:

London Fix Precious Metal Prices
	Gold		Silver	Platinum		Palladium
	AM	PM		AM	PM	AM	PM
3/5/2010	1135.00	1135.00	17.25	1577.00	1578.00	465.00	466.00
3/12/2010	1118.75	1106.25	17.31	1619.00	1619.00	466.00	464.00

 

Weekly Bullion Prices
	Up	Down	% Change	Gain/Loss
Silver	X		0.3%	$0.06
Gold		X	-2.5%	-$28.75
Platinum	X		2.6%	$41.00
Palladium		X	-0.4%	-$2.00

 

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

• The Blame Locker – Jon Nadler, Kitco Metals Inc.
  Spot gold bullion prices rose overnight, having once again tested the (and held at) the just-under $1100 level yesterday — a fresh, three-week low. Dollar weakness ahead of the release of US economic data this morning kept bullion specs interested, however an early push towards the $1120 resistance area was truncated and the metal retreated towards $1110, and then even lower, turning negative within the first hour of trading, as the US dollar pared losses incurred immediately following the release of US retail sales figures for February.

  Spot dealings started the week’s final session with a $6.90 gain in gold, at an $1116.50 bid quote per ounce, as against a fairly hefty 0.49 slip in the US dollar on the trade-weighted index (to 79.79 at last check) and tracking a half-dollar gain in crude oil (now at $82.66 pbbl.). The International Energy Agency earlier hiked its estimated global oil demand for 2010 for a second month and that sparked a near 1% surge in black gold futures. In any case, this morning’s action once again shows to what extent gold has taken on risk asset attributes and that it has lately traded in tandem with such –normally thought to go in the opposite direction- other assets as stocks for example. Anything for an additional buck …

• US DAV Silver Dollars Pass 131K, Silver Eagles Break 1.1M
  Investment demand for bullion American Silver Eagles increased during the last seven days, but excitement abated for other American silver products.

  According to the latest United States Mint sales statistics, Silver Eagles advanced another 750,000 since last Wednesday — improving to 1,175,000 during the first ten days of this month. If the current pace continues through the next 21 days, it will turn out to be the best ever March for the silver coins. Year-to-date sales are presently at 6,817,500 …

For silver news and prices, see Spot Silver Prices.