The latest briefing from French bankers Société Générale says that the financial services company currently prefers to invest in silver rather than gold, citing favourable prices.
The gold to silver ratio is currently 82.66, which is considered high. This either means gold prices are exceptionally high or silver prices are particularly low. In this instance it’s the latter, with gold around £915 to £920 per ounce lately, while silver is languishing at £11.08 per ounce.
Société Générale’s global commodities strategist & head of APAC research, Mark Keenan, was speaking to Bloomberg last week and said: “We favour silver above gold. Silver is an industrial metal at the end of the day and has some use in the economy. It’s very closely linked to copper, which we see upside in. We are supportive of silver prices from here”.
The banking firm says it will sell gold and buy silver until the gold to silver ratio hits 71. Given the current reduced interest in gold, it’s possible that gold comes down below £900 but there has been resilience at around £907 per ounce – perhaps a value that investors see as too good an opportunity to pass up.
If that is the case, then SG will need silver to rise in value by around £2 per ounce based on current gold prices to adjust the ratio to approximately 71. This isn’t impossible, but silver has been on a long bear run. Industrial demand is growing steadily, but investment interest is muted. Silver’s lowest pricing in the past year came only a few weeks ago, hitting £10.75 per ounce on Thursday 20th September, but it did manage to surpass £13 per ounce last November and came close in late June 2018.
With the news that such a respected institute as Société Générale are keen on silver perhaps interest will return, and prices will be boosted by demand, but this waits to be seen.
