Comex Silver Prices Headed for Second Week of Losses Following FOMC Meeting

London (June 16)  Silver prices tread water through Friday’s session, but were headed for sharp weekly declines after a hawkish Federal Reserve accelerated a technical reversal for the grey metal.

Silver for July delivery was trading at $16.75 a troy ounce at 7:06 a.m. ET, up 3 cents, or 0.2%, from the previous session’s close. Prices fluctuated within a narrow range of $16.70 and $16.70 through the overnight session. On a longer term horizon, silver has fluctuated between $15.86 and $21.07 over the past 12 months.

The grey metal is on track to fall nearly 3% for the week. Prices are down more than 5% from the June 6 settlement high of $17.71.

Gold prices also ran into volatility this week and were headed for big losses. The August futures contract held within a narrow range Friday morning to trade at $1,257.00 a troy ounce. The yellow metal is down roughly 1.3% for the week.

Gold’s premium over silver rose to 75.02 ounces on Thursday after falling sharply earlier in the week. The ratio was as high as 75.62 earlier in the week.

Precious metals were facing a technical correction when the Federal Reserve announced plans to continue normalizing monetary policy throughout the year. After initial hesitation, the dollar rose against a basket of world currencies, which placed further precious on gold and silver prices.

The U.S. dollar index was last seen trading at 97.32, down 0.1% from Thursday’s close.

In other monetary policy news, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) kept interest rates on hold following its two-day meeting Friday. The Japanese central bank has remained on the sidelines since shifting course on monetary policy last fall.

Source: EconomicCalendar