Finance24 – Spot silver held above $11 an ounce on Thursday, supported by buying by hedge funds who are trying to take new positions ahead of the second quarter on hopes that an exchange-traded fund(ETF) will launch soon.
Firm silver prices supported spot gold near 25-year highs as well as other precious metals, but gains were limited in Asia trading hours as Japanese investors were keen to lock in profits ahead of the fiscal book closings on Friday.
Still, the long-term outlook for the metals was bullish backed by fund operators’ strong interest to diversify their assets into commodities, including gold and silver.
“Silver looks even stronger after breaking above 1 100 cents yesterday. We’ve also seen heavy stop-loss buying being triggered after breaking through the level,” said Akira Doi, director at Daiichi Commodities.
“Strong crude oil prices were generally lifting sentiment in the precious metals market,” Doi said.
As of 05:27 GMT, silver was trading at $11.18/11.21 an ounce, up from $11.10/11.13 in New York on Wednesday, where it had climbed more than 2%.
Silver has risen almost 8% since early last week when the US Securities and Exchange Commission cleared the way for final approval of the first ETF to be backed by bullion.
