Gold and silver roar to fresh record highs
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The four main precious metals – gold, silver, platinum and palladium – have surged between 55 per cent and 82 per cent in 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
MELBOURNE – Gold prices climbed to a record high above US$4,100 on Oct 14 on increased US Federal Reserve rate cut prospects and resurgent US-China trade woes.
Silver prices, meanwhile, touched a new record high above US$52.50 an ounce, as a historic short squeeze in London added momentum to a rally fuelled by surging demand for safe haven assets.
Spot gold climbed 1.3 per cent to an all-time high of US$4,162.31 per ounce as of 0341 GMT. US gold futures for December delivery gained 0.9 per cent to US$4,171.
Gold has surged 58 per cent year to date, breaking the crucial US$4,100 threshold for the first time on Oct 13.
The bullion has been bolstered by geopolitical and economic uncertainties, rate-cut expectations, strong central bank buying, and robust exchange-traded fund inflows.
Bank of America and Societe Generale analysts now forecast gold to hit US$5,000 by 2026, while Standard Chartered Bank raised its 2026 average forecast to US$4,488.
Spot silver prices jumped 1.1 per cent to US$53.13, touching a record high of US$53.45 earlier in the session.
Concerns about a lack of liquidity in London have sparked a worldwide hunt for silver, with benchmark prices soaring to near-unprecedented levels over New York. That is prompting some traders to book cargo slots on transatlantic flights for silver bars – an expensive mode of transport typically reserved for gold – to profit off higher prices in London.
Silver lease rates – which represent the annualised cost of borrowing the metal in the London market – soared to more than 30 per cent on a one-month basis on Oct 10, creating eye-watering costs for those looking to roll over short positions.
Lease rates for gold and palladium also tightened, signalling a broadening pull on London’s bullion reserves, following a rush to ship the metals to New York earlier in 2025.
The silver market is “less liquid and roughly nine times smaller than gold’s, amplifying price moves”, Goldman Sachs Group analysts wrote in a note.
“Without a central bank bid to anchor silver prices, even a temporary pullback in investment flows could trigger a disproportionate correction, as it would also unwind the London tightness that drove much of the recent rally.”
The four main precious metals have surged between 55 per cent and 82 per cent to date in 2025, in a rally that has dominated commodity markets.
On Oct 13, analysts at Bank of America hiked their end-of-2026 price target for silver from around US$44 an ounce to US$65, citing persistent market deficits, elevated fiscal gaps and lower interest rates. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
