Silver prices zoom

MUMBAI, February 4: Silver prices shot up steeply by Rs 320 per kg to close at Rs 9010 on the bullion market here today due to sharp hike in its prices in the global market. Gold, on the other hand, declined sharply on weak London advices where it was fixed $ 3.15 weaker at $ 295.20 per troy ounce.Ready silver of .999 fineness resumed at a recent high level of Rs 9250 and later, reacted to close at Rs 9010, still showing a remarkable rally of Rs 320 over yesterday’s close of Rs 8690.

Similarly, raw silver of .916 fineness and tenderable silver also jumped up to Rs 8835 and Rs 9015 respectively from the last close of Rs 8580 and Rs 8695.On the other hand, standard gold started weak and fell further to close at Rs 3,990, showing a fall of Rs 60 over the last close of Rs 4050. 22-carat gold was nominally quoted weaker at Rs 3690 from Rs 3745 and ten-tola gold declined by Rs 700 to settle at Rs 46,700 from Rs 47,400.

In Tokyo, Yen-based silver futures surged by their daily limit of 9.0 yen per 10 grams onWednesday on investor buying triggered by overnight news that a US firm had made large silver purchases, traders said.All TOCOM silver contracts, except for limitless near by February, jumped by the daily limit of 9.0 yen at the opening and stayed at their opening levels for the rest of the day. Benchmark December silver closed at 245.3 yen.

US billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced on Tuesday that his Berkshire Hathaway Corp had purchased 129.7 million ounces of silver, or approximately 20 percent of the world’s annual estimated silver supply.