Silver prices tumbled in European trade on Thursday, leading losses across precious metals as the sector faced a wave of renewed selling that largely wiped out a short-lived rebound this week.
Spot silver were last down 10.4% to $79.0725 an ounce, remaining in sight of lows hit during last week’s rout. Silver futures for March delivery tumbled more than 6% to $78.545/oz.
Deeper losses in the white metal came earlier during the Asian session, and were accompanied by a small uptick in the dollar.
"Even as prices of precious metals are now less elevated following the correction, sensitivity to [the U.S. dollar], yield repricing, and uncertainty around Fed policy under new leadership remains high. While positioning has likely reset to some extent, confidence may not have fully restored, pointing to a potential period of choppier, two-way trading," Christopher Wong, FX strategist at OCBC said in a e-mailed comment.
Still, Wong viewed the recent precious metals pullback more "as a normalization phase rather than a trend reversal," adding that the fundamentals behind the metal rally -- central bank demand for gold and industrial demand for silver -- were still intact.
"While higher beta and sentiment-driven flows can amplify short-term volatility, medium-term fundamentals remain supported by demand from solar [photovoltaic], grid modernization and electrification themes, which should help cushion downside once positioning and sentiment stabilise," Wong said.
Strength in the dollar had been a major weight on precious metals over the past week, as the greenback rebounded from near four-year lows after U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for the next Federal Reserve Chair, Kevin Warsh, was viewed as being less dovish than markets were hoping.
This notion continued to chip away at metal prices in recent sessions.
Traders also remained largely biased towards the dollar ahead of key central bank meetings in Europe on Thursday, and U.S. nonfarm payrolls data due next week. The payrolls data, initially scheduled for Friday, was delayed to February 11 due to a partial government shutdown earlier in the week.
