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Precious Metal Silver Turns "Golden"!
Silver surged to its highest in more than 22 years on Wednesday on strong speculative buying after U.S. regulators took a big step towards finally approving the market's first exchange-traded fund (ETF).
The Silver Surfer
The fund, to be backed by physical metal, has the potential to bring fresh investment to the market and soak up supply, dealers said.
"Of course you have had the good news about the silver ETF. It's not the final approval but is pretty close to it," said John Reade, precious metals analyst at UBS Investment Bank.
"If you get 50 million ounces of silver for the ETF, it will have a big impact on the market."
Spot silver
Silver, used in jewelry, electronics and photography, has risen nearly 20 percent since the start of 2006 in anticipation of the fund launch.
Dealers said the market might have about 600 million ounces of silver available for delivery, including holdings by central banks, dealers and other banks.
But the figure excluded billions of ounces in the form of jewelry accumulated by consumers over generations but not available for immediate delivery.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday it approved rule changes that would allow the American Stock Exchange to list shares in Barclays Plc's
Before the Silver Trust shares can begin trading, the commission would have to approve a registration statement allowing the shares to be publicly issued.
The fund would be backed by silver bullion held in vaults in London, with each share worth about 10 ounces of silver.
"With the scale of fund interest already expressed, I still believe the actual launch of the ETF will drive silver prices towards $12," James Moore, analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, said in a daily report.
