Silver prices rise marginally on dollar slide; Fed minutes eyed

The value of September and December’s contracts traded so far is Rs 316.96 crore and Rs 28.48 crore, respectively.

Silver prices marginally rose on August 18 amid mixed cues in industrial metals, gold and weakness in the dollar. The precious metal had fallen 0.55 percent yesterday on the COMEX.

The white metal traded in the green territory after a gap-up start, tracking the positive global cues.

The semi-precious metal has been trading lower than 20, 50, 100 and 200 days’ moving averages but higher than the 5-day moving averages on the daily chart. The momentum indicator Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 35.73, which indicates further downside in the price.

Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said, “International silver prices are trading with moderate gains on Wednesday in early afternoon Asian trade ahead of the release of FOMC meeting minutes tonight. Technically, LBMA Silver above $23.00 level could see $24.10-$25.22 levels. Support is at $23.40-$22.65 levels.”

“On the domestic front, Technically, MCX Silver September above Rs 63,000 level could see Rs 63,900-Rs 64,400 levels. Support is at Rs 62,900-Rs 62,000 levels,” Iyer added.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday it could be "reasonable" to start reducing the Fed's bond-buying program later this year, though it would depend on making further progress in the labour market.

However, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it remains unclear whether the heightened outbreak of the coronavirus Delta variant will have a noticeable impact on the economy.

Silver holdings in iShares ETF were unchanged for the third day at 17,276.95 tonnes. The fund NAV is trading at a discount of 1.10 percent.

The US dollar index moderately fell to 93.07, down 0.07 percent against the major cross in the afternoon session.

The spot gold/silver ratio currently stands at 75.33 to 1, indicating that gold has outperformed silver.

MCX Bulldesk mildly eased 3 points, or 0.02 percent, to 14,206 at 15:00 hours. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Gold and MCX Silver futures.

In the futures market, silver for September delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 63,550 and a low of Rs 63,300 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the precious metal has touched a low of Rs 61,536 and a high of Rs 75,215.

Silver delivery for the September contract gained Rs 131, or 0.21 percent to Rs 63,537 per kg at 15:01 hours with a business turnover of 9,657 lots. The same for the December contract rose Rs 125, or 0.20 percent, to Rs 64,076 per kg with a turnover of 4,866 lots.

The value of September and December’s contracts traded so far is Rs 316.96 crore and Rs 28.48 crore, respectively.

Similarly, the Silver Mini contract for August soared Rs 108, or 0.17 percent to Rs 63,612 on a business turnover of 19,599 lots.

Geojit Financial Service said, “A range-bound trading day expected. It required to break and sustain above Rs 64,200 to continue rallies.”

At 09:36 (GMT), the precious metal gained 0.37 percent and was quoting at $23.74 an ounce in New York.

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