Silver ended the trading sessions of the last week at 31.93 after opening at 30.410. The commodity bounced up and down all week as precious metals rode a rollercoaster and industrial metals soared on the back of positive economic data released in the US and China.
Commodities advanced in general on the back of strong economic data coming out of the US and China. Housing market data offered further evidence that the pace of the recovery is gathering with December. Housing starts surging 12.1% m/m, up from a previous decline of 3% in November as initial jobless claims fell to their lowest levels since early 2008. On Thursday, GDP data out of the world’s second largest economy came in stronger than expected with a print of 7.9 %, easing concerns regarding a potential ‘hard landing’ in China. The headlines have continued to support risk with gold prices tracking broader risk sentiment throughout the week.
All together, analysts and traders are optimistic on the silver price increase. On the first day of trading last week, the metal rose above $31, and with a string of consecutive daily gains has managed to remain above that level and inch toward the bullish territory. On Wednesday, a range of industrial metals, such as copper, zinc and lead, all suffered on news of a decline in foreign investments in China and a downgraded forecast for global economic growth from the World Bank. Silver also followed a suit temporarily, but rose to close the day with $0.12 in gains.
The last week gains are not a firm indication that the silver market is free of pressure factors. Silver is traditionally extremely volatile and the trading range is quite broad.
