Silver Rates Rebound By Rs 50 per 10 gm on Monday as City Rates Almost Mirror National Benchmark

Mumbai, July 20: Silver rates in India gained Rs 50 per 10 gm on Monday snapping Friday’s Rs 49 decline. Prices at the national level were quoted at Rs 235 per gram or Rs 2,35,000 per kg, recovering most of Friday’s losses when rates slid Rs 49 from Rs 2,349 during the previous session. Silver traded largely in a range over the last week, with Monday’s rise only reversing Friday which itself had broken a period of range-bound action. 

Bullion dealers cited an amalgamation of safe-haven buying returning into the market as well as ongoing buying interest from industry supporting silver prices. Industrial demand for silver, which features widely in electronics manufacturing as well as solar photovoltaic panels, has remained robust even as prices have trended sharply higher over the last month. Prices have also moved in tandem with global cues lately such as the dollar index and rupee-dollar movements, as well as safe-haven flows in and out of the metal depending on headlines surrounding the Iran- US conflict over the Strait of Hormuz. This strategic waterway has kept sentiment nervous across not just bullion but other asset classes as well over the last two weeks. To the quoted gold and silver rates must be added the basic import duty that the government charges on the metal. Additionally, state governments tax gold and silver imports locally too which gets factored into the final price that consumers see at jewellery stores. 

Here’s how rates compared to Friday, city-wise:

Most spot markets for silver moved closer to India’s national benchmark rate on Monday. Friday had seen wide disparities in local prices for silver across India’s top cities compared to the national benchmark, but the trend reversed Monday: Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Pune, Vadodara and Ahmedabad had all dropped to Rs 2,300 per 10 grams on Friday, but rebounded Rs 50 to Rs 2,350 on Monday in-line with the national figure. Meanwhile, Delhi rates moved up a marginal Re 1 to Rs 2,350 after hovering around Rs 2,349 for most of last week. In contrast to Friday’s behaviour when Chennai, Hyderabad and Kerala were priced at a premium to other centres, the trio came back down to Earth on Monday: Chennai slipped Rs 49 to Rs 2,350, Hyderabad declined Rs 50 to Rs 2,349, and Kerala fell Rs 51 to also settle at Rs 2,349. This leaves most silver rates across India clustered within a dollar or two of Monday’s national benchmark of Rs 2,350 as compared to the Rs 100 spread seen between the highest and lowest centres just a day prior. Traders said the increased alignment of city rates with the national benchmark usually indicates that the local buying/selling pressures that drove the divergence last week have been arbitraged away, and isn’t necessarily a new buying/selling bias developing in the broader market. 

Gold Prices Today 

Gold prices traded flat on Monday, with the national benchmark for 24 karat gold reporting no change at Rs 1,43,280 per 10 grams from its Friday close. 22 karat gold prices also remained unchanged at Rs 1,31,340 per 10 grams, while 18 karat gold saw no change at Rs 1,07,460 per 10 grams. The flat open comes after gold prices settled down Rs 300 on Friday, with markets remaining closed over the weekend. Gold traders said global cues from the US Federal Reserve commentary this week as well as further developments in the Middle East will influence price movement in both gold and silver in the days ahead. 

Both gold and silver are expected to remain sensitive to these triggers for the rest of the week. Tensions between Iran and the US escalating further would likely lead to increased safe-haven demand for gold and silver, while prices could come under pressure from healthy industrial buying demand for silver if geopolitical tensions show signs of easing. Local taxes, making charges and GST of 3 per cent are additional levies that need to be factored on top of quoted rates, and bullion traders recommended individuals confirm live rates with jewellers before buying or selling as rates can change within the course of a trading day. 

10 Gram Silver Rates Across Major Indian Cities — Monday vs Friday 

Source

•  goodreturns.in