Silver Is The New Gold In 2021

White metal keeps up its rally, though yellow metal sees a price correction. Experts advise investors to buy silver with a measured step, keeping in mind the volatility factor

- Yagnesh Kansara

So rightly it’s said that all that glitters is not gold. In fact, silver glitters more than gold as India moves on, leaving the COVID scare behind. While gold prices entered a correction zone after a blinding spike during the months of the pandemic, silver stole the show as the world entered 2021. The white metal sold for ₹68,535 per kilogram in the spot market at the time of going to press – a surge of 62 per cent over the same period last year when it was trading at ₹42,425 per kilogram, while the March contract (futures price) climbed 44 per cent from the year-ago period to ₹68,690 a kilo.

Silver’s performance in the international market in 2020 has been one of the best in recent years as it added more than 60 per cent to its value by mid-August. It surged to a seven-year high, scaling to $30 per ounce (an ounce is 31.10 grams).

Gold rallied 28 per cent in rupee terms in 2020, when the pandemicinduced containment measures stalled all economic activities across large parts of the world, scaling record highs. Gold futures surged 43 per cent to an all-time high of ₹56,191 per 10 gram at the MCX as investors looked for a safe haven for their money in August.

After the bull run last year, gold prices began stabilising but silver, which had traded 47 per cent higher last year, kept charging. “The yellow metal may consolidate for some time but silver, due to its industrial usage, is expected to stay elevated in 2021 also,” says Naveen Mathur, Director – Commodities and Currencies at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers.