Silver futures slip to Rs 60,357 per kg on weak global cues, down nearly 21% from August high

Silver prices edged lower to Rs 60,357 per kg on September 22 as participants increased their short positions as seen by the open interest. The precious metal had declined 9.67 percent yesterday on MCX.

Silver prices traded lower as gold prices witnessed a fall as a broader market sell-off driven by uncertainty over more US fiscal stimulus pressured the precious complex along with a stronger dollar.

Sunilkumar Katke, Head of Commodities and Currency at Axis Securities Limited said, “Silver corrected by Rs. 6,000 per kg yesterday breaching crucial support of $25 at Comex and settled at Rs. 61,000 mark at MCX from its Rs 68,000 levels. Silver followed cues from Gold and base metals which were in Red as a result of fall in equity markets backed by threats of a 2nd wave of COVID 19 across Europe that may lead to lockdowns in patches hampering economic activities in those regions impacting liquidity in the market.

The white metal has lost Rs 15,695, or 20.64 percent from the high of Rs 76,052 it hit on August 6.

The US dollar index, measured against a basket of six currencies was marginally up 0.02 percent to 93.70, the highest level since July 27.

Silver holdings in iShares ETF were unchanged at 17,211.13 tonnes, lowest since July.

MCX iCOMDEX Bullion Index declined 96.08 points, or 0.62 percent, at 15,374.84 at 14:30. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Gold and MCX Silver futures.

In the futures market, silver for December delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 61,990 and a low of Rs 59,570 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the precious metal has touched a low of Rs 49,415 and a high of Rs 79,723.

Silver delivery for December contract slipped Rs 959, or 1.56 percent to Rs 60,357 per kg at 14:32 hours with a business turnover of 16,418 lots. The same for the March contract edged lower Rs 1,121, or 1.76 percent, to Rs 62,430 per kg with a turnover of 439 lots.

The value of December and March’s contracts traded so far is Rs 2,879.88 crore and Rs 39.22 crore, respectively.

The spot gold/silver ratio currently stands at 78.66 to 1, which means the amount of silver required to buy one ounce of gold.

Katke expects the demand for silver to remain sideways for another couple of months and expect the prices to stay in the range of Rs 60,000-70,000 per kg, from a traders perspective, for the day we advise a sell at Rs 60,800 with stop loss at Rs 61,500 and a target of Rs 59,600.

At 09:09 (GMT), the precious metal was down 0.23 percent quoting at $24.33 an ounce in New York.