SINGAPORE: Silver fell, after plunging 20% in the previous session, as the white metal struggled to find a floor following a historic market rout. Gold was little changed.
Spot silver was below US$70 an ounce in early trading, having retreated more than 40% in the last week from an all-time high hit on Jan 29. At Thursday’s close, the metal had lost its entire gains for the year to date in a market that hasn’t seen this level of turmoil since 1980.
A multiyear bull run for precious metals accelerated in the last few weeks, in a surge underpinned by speculative momentum, heightened geopolitical risks and concerns about the US central bank’s independence.
That rally came to an abrupt halt at the end of last week, with silver seeing its biggest-ever daily drop on Jan 30 and gold plunging the most since 2013.
Spot silver declined 2.9% to US$68.84 an ounce as of 7.20am in Singapore. Gold edged down 0.3% to US$4,764.18. Platinum and palladium fell. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, a gauge of the US currency, ended the previous session up 0.3%.
