Silver & Gold ETFs Slide as Middle East Anxiety Grips Friday's Market

Mumbai, March 27: Friday’s ETF session told a starkly different story from Wednesday’s rally. Where investors were buying aggressively two days ago, they were selling — or simply stepping back — today. Silver and gold products, which had led the charge on Wednesday, were among the sharpest fallers, as the deepening West Asia conflict pushed risk appetite sharply lower across the board.

Silver: From Star to Biggest Loser

Silver ETFs, which swept the top of Wednesday’s performance charts, led Friday’s declines. SILVERBEES dropped ₹8.03 to ₹213.45, while SILVERIETF fell ₹9.01 to ₹221.43 — one of the steepest single-session drops among actively traded products. HDFCSILVER shed ₹9.61 to ₹212.05 and SBISILVER lost ₹7.72 to ₹218.47.

SILVER360 was the hardest hit, falling ₹10.82 to ₹216.01. SILVERBND dropped ₹11.41 to ₹220.67, SILVERADD lost ₹10.13, and SILVERBETA fell ₹8.71. The selling was uniform across every silver product — the mirror image of Wednesday’s buying sweep.

The retreat is striking precisely because it was so broad. Every silver ETF moved in the same direction with similar force, reflecting a single overriding factor: investors pulling back from risk assets as geopolitical uncertainty deepened and no clear resolution to the Hormuz crisis came into view.

Gold: Holding Firm But Not Immune

Gold ETFs fared somewhat better but were not spared. GOLDBEES, the most widely traded gold product, fell ₹1.42 to ₹117.77 on volumes of over 26 lakh units worth ₹3,097 crore. GOLDIETF dropped ₹1.78 to ₹121.73 and HDFCGOLD slipped ₹1.37 to ₹121.55. TATAGOLD, which attracted the highest individual trade count on the day at over 87 lakh units, eased ₹0.14 to ₹13.84.

The relatively contained losses in gold, compared to silver’s sharper declines, suggest that while both metals are retreating, gold’s safe-haven status is providing some cushion. Investors appear to be trimming positions rather than abandoning the metal entirely.

Broader Market ETFs Under Pressure

Index-tracking products reflected the equity market’s broad slide. NIFTYBEES fell ₹4.98 to ₹258.90, SENSEXBEES dropped ₹17.61 to ₹842.50, and BANKBEES shed ₹12.93 to ₹540.46. PSUBNKBEES was among the harder-hit index products, falling ₹3.81 to ₹91.82, in line with the PSU banking sector’s sharp 3.24% decline on the NSE.

JUNIORBEES lost ₹15.61 to ₹670.97 and MID150BEES fell ₹3.97 to ₹207.51, underscoring that the selling pressure extended well beyond large caps.

Defence: A Rare Note of Relative Stability

MODEFENCE and DEFENCE were among the less affected products, falling ₹2.78 and ₹2.01 respectively — modest declines compared to silver and banking ETFs. In an environment where governments are ramping up security spending amid active conflict, defence-linked products continue to attract long-term investors unwilling to exit despite the market-wide downdraft.

What Friday’s Session Signals

Friday’s ETF moves are a clean read on where investor confidence stands. The uniform selling across silver, the contained but visible retreat in gold, and the sharp falls in banking and index products all point to one conclusion: markets are pricing in a prolonged, unresolved conflict — and investors are adjusting accordingly.

Source: https://www.bseindia.com/markets/etf/ETF_MktWatch.aspx