Silver hits all-time high at $51 per ounce

​​​​​​​By Burhan Sansarlioglu and Emir Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) - The ounce price of silver hit a record of $51.23 as its safe haven feature came to the fore amid geopolitical tensions and instability, as well as its high demand for its prevalent use in semiconductors, renewable energy and more.

Silver started the year at $28.9 per ounce and followed a predominantly upward trend, rising especially after May, and gained for five consecutive months.

Silver made a return of around 75.2% for investors since the beginning of the year.

Zafer Ergezen, a futures and commodities expert, told Anadolu that the recent rise in silver was due to better-than-expected US growth data and the Fed’s meeting minutes pointing to the possibility of more rate cuts. “These factors are bringing actual recovery to economies in the industrial sector,” he said.

Ergezen noted that the gold-to-silver ratio shifted to favor silver as the commodity has become much stronger, adding that while central banks are actively buying gold, silver is also benefiting from the central bank purchase.

“The rise of rate cut expectations in the US brought silver to the forefront, and with the federal government’s shutdown, there has been a shift in preference from US bonds to precious metals like gold and silver,” he added.