Silver prices, miners surge as retail buyers pile in (updated)

Investigator Silver

01/02/2021 24:03

* Silver price leaps more than 7% to highest since August
    * Mining stocks surge in Australia
    * Retail frenzy unnerves broader market

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    SINGAPORE, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Silver prices leapt to a
five-month high on Monday and small silver miners listed in
Australia surged after social media calls to buy the metal and
emulate the frenzy that has driven GameStop  GME.N  shares up
1,500% in two weeks.
    Spot silver  XAG=  rose as much as 7.4% to $28.99 an ounce,
the highest since mid-August. Shares in a handful of mining
firms such as Argent Minerals  ARD.AX , Boab Metals  BML.AX  and
Investigator Resources  IVR.AX  leapt more than 15%.
    Coin-selling websites also reported unprecedented demand and
flagged delays in delivering bullion. The moves are the latest
example of small-time traders buying en masse, particularly of
stocks and other assets that were heavily bet against, resulting
in large losses for major investors.  MKTS/GLOB 
    "There is this curious situation now where the Reddit crowd
has turned its sights on a bigger whale in terms of trying to
catalyse something of a short squeeze in the silver market,"
said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at brokerage IG Markets in
Melbourne.
    "The most important factor here is that silver is heavily
shorted, the paper market is much, much larger than the
underlying commodity can justify," he said.
    "There's a lot of commentary on these platforms to pile in
to the miners."
    Silver prices are up 15% since Wednesday's close, around
when messages began circulating on forums such as Reddit
encouraging users to buy the metal and drive up prices.

 (Reporting by Tom Westbrook; Editing by Daniel Wallis and
Lincoln Feast.)
 ((tom.westbrook@tr.com; +65 6318 4876;))