Another new high for silver

Silver was up again on Monday, equaling its April 27, 1987 level in London when it reached its peak during the day of $10.92 per troy ounce. This is considered to be the record price for the precious metal, even though some dealers say that it actually traded above $11 per troy ounce during April 1987. The metal backed off its peak later in the day to trade at $10.89/$10.92 late in the day in London, still a gain of 17 cents during the day. Silver has gained in value by more than 20 percent since the beginning of the year on the prospect of a new investment product that was approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week.

Gold, meanwhile, reached a three-week high of $568.30 a troy ounce, but eased back to $566.67/$567.50 per troy ounce late in the day in London, a gain of $1 on the day. The gain came on comments from an official of the Bank of China, who said that China should have more of its foreign reserves in gold.

In other precious metals, palladium hit its highest level in three and a half years, trading at $339 per troy ounce, while platinum traded as high as $1,068 during the day.

In base metals, copper was up $70 on the day on the London Metal Exchange to reach a new high price of $5,320 per tonne. Copper has risen over 12 percent in three weeks. The latest gains come on a strike at Grupo Mexico, the world’s third largest copper producer.