The market price for silver reached a seven-year high this week amid the continued decline in the value of the U.S. dollar and ecord low interest rates imposed by global central banks. The continued economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic has sent investors rushing for safe-haven assets such as precious metals and government securities.
Silver prices surged as much as 18 percent this week to as high as $23.24 per ounce, outpacing the gains in gold prices. Since the start of the year, the price of the precious metal has rallied by more than 28 percent.
Meanwhile, gold prices have already surpassed the $1,800 per ounce mark and analysts expect it to eventually hit a high of $1,920 per ounce, which it last saw in 2011. As of Thursday, spot gold prices were trading at around $1,886 per ounce. Since the start of the year, gold prices have gone up by 24 percent.
Since the start of the pandemic earlier in the year, global investors have shifted to safer long-term investments amid the continued fears of a global recession due to the spread of the disease. Prices of precious metals have continued to climb and recent events have pushed their prices even higher. The weakening U.S. dollar has made it significantly cheaper to buy precious metals such as gold and silver.
Some investors have also started to shy away from more traditional safe-haven assets such as government securities given the rock bottom interest rates. Global central banks have pushed their rates to new lows in an attempt to bolster economic activity. However, with the continued border lockdowns and movement restrictions, economic activity is unlikely to recover to pre-pandemic levels in the short term.
Analysts have pointed out that the recent surge in the price of silver can be attributed to the precious metal's continued use in key technologies that have seen a recent spike in demand. Silver is a key component of new energy vehicles, a sector that has seen an increase in demand as the world shifts to greener energy solutions.
Market analysts at Oanda have warned that betting too much on the particular precious metal could be dangerous. The company stated that determining the tops and the bottoms in the current environment is an extremely hazardous endeavor and only the deep-pocketed and the brave may be able to take full advantage of the ups and downs in the market.
