Historic gains for silver, gold as precious metals soar in a tumultuous year
Precious metals retreated on Wednesday, but the complex was on track for impressive annual gains, led by silver's historic jump of 140% and gold's strongest annual gain in more than 40 years.
Spot gold slipped 0.4% to $4,329.12 per ounce by 0756 GMT to a more than two-week low. It hit a record high of $4,549.71 on Friday.
U.S. gold futures for February delivery lost 1% to $4,340.90/oz.
Bullion has climbed more than 60% in 2025, marking its largest annual gain since 1979 when geopolitical factors, including the Iranian revolution, pushed prices higher.
Gold's rally this year has been driven by rate cuts and bets of further monetary easing by the U.S. Federal Reserve, geopolitical conflicts, robust demand from central banks and rising holdings in exchange-traded funds.
"Maybe towards the end of the first (quarter of 2026), we could see (gold) test $5,000. Certainly, it seems like the sort of catalysts animating gold, especially over the course of the past year, have become self-sustaining," Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive, said.
Spot silver lost 5.6% to $72.20 per ounce on Wednesday after hitting an all-time high of $83.62 on Monday.
Silver has gained over 140% year-to-date, far outpacing gold, and is set for its best year ever.
The metal broke through multiple milestones in 2025, supported by its designation as a critical U.S. mineral, supply constraints, low inventories and rising industrial and investment demand.
The U.S. dollar (.DXY)
, opens new tab rose to a more than one-week high, pressuring greenback-priced metals.
"So first the dollar has risen slightly, so that is working against the precious metals and it's the last day of the year so we see some profit-booking," said Jigar Trivedi, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities based in Mumbai.
Spot platinum shed 10% to $1,979.14 per ounce after rising to a lifetime high of $2,478.50 on Monday. It is up over 110% for the year, its strongest gain ever.
Palladium fell 3.9% to $1,547.81 per ounce, set to close the year up over 60%, its best performance in 15 years.
Source: Reuters.com
