Silver Price Hits 11-week High on Weaker US Dollar and Technical Buying

The silver price rose over 2 percent on Wednesday (April 18) afternoon, reaching a 2.5-month high thanks to technical trading. A weaker US dollar also supported prices.

Kitco analyst Jim Wyckoff said gold and silver are “tilted in favor of the bulls, which is inspiring technically-based buying interest at mid-week.”

He added, “[t]he ability of gold and silver to post price gains today, amid little risk aversion in the marketplace, is impressive.”

Also adding to silver’s price increase was its safe-haven appeal during the current political volatility.

On Tuesday (April 17), US President Donald Trump slammed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) ahead of planned trade talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Trump stated, “while Japan and South Korea would like us to go back into TPP, I don’t like the deal for the United States.”

“Too many contingencies and no way to get out if it doesn’t work. Bilateral deals are far more efficient, profitable and better for OUR workers. Look how bad WTO is to US,” he added.

Comments like these tend to leave investors clutching to safe havens such as precious metals.

Meanwhile, the US dollar fell to a near three-week low, boosting silver demand and supporting prices. A softer greenback makes commodities priced in dollars cheaper for investors using other currencies.

Wednesday’s rise also pushed the gold/silver ratio back below 80 for the first time since mid-March. For some time, market watchers have believed that the gold/silver ratio will dip below 80, allowing silver to start making more impressive gains within the market.

Johann Wiebe, lead analyst for Thomson Reuters’ GFMS team, told the Investing News Network last week that silver will most likely outperform the yellow metal in 2018 “purely based on the ratio argument.”

“[If] you look at the ratio it is at 82, and every time it pops above 80 … it reverses back because it is simply too expensive versus gold. So in that sense, yes, I support that argument [that] silver will upsell gold,” he added.

As of 12:55 p.m. EST, silver was up 2.99 percent, trading at US$17.23 per ounce.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Nicole Rashotte, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.