Silver prices traded flat to positive at Rs 67,666 per kg on December 24 as participants increased their long positions as seen by the open interest. The precious metal had gained 1.5 percent yesterday on the COMEX.

The white metal price recovered along with gold from recent lows as the US dollar index shed some of its recent gains and Brexit deal hopes.

The US dollar index traded lower at 90.16 levels, down 0.19 percent in the afternoon trade.

Silver holdings in iShares ETF fell by 78.1 tonnes to 17,260.93 tonnes.

However, weighing on the price are demand concerns, surging coronavirus cases and uneven recovery.

MCX iCOMDEX Bullion Index is up 4.57 points or 0.03 percent, at 15,639.25 at 14:47. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Gold and MCX Silver futures.

Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, said, “International silver prices are trading marginally higher on Thursday morning and early afternoon trade. Technically, LBMA Silver Spot is sustaining well above 100-DMA at $25.10 levels indicating further sideways to marginal upside trend to continue up to $26.40-$27.50 levels and support is at $25.20-$24.60 levels.”

In the futures market, silver for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 67,900 and a low of Rs 67,375 per kg on the MCX. So far in the current series, the precious metal has touched a low of Rs 54,386 and a high of Rs 79,980.

Silver delivery for March contract gained Rs 90, or 0.13 percent to Rs 67,666 per kg at 14:50 hours with a business turnover of 13,906 lots. The same for the May contract edged higher by Rs 314, or 0.46 percent, to Rs 68,700 per kg with a turnover of 434 lots.

The value of March and May’s contracts traded so far is Rs 978.26 crore and Rs 5.75 crore, respectively.

The spot gold/silver ratio currently stands at 72.76 to 1 indicating that silver has outperformed gold.

“Technically, MCX Silver March holds a support of Rs 66,200 level above which it will continue its bullish momentum where downside support is at Rs 66,900-65,800 levels. Resistance is at Rs 68,200-68,700 levels,” said Iyer.

Kotak Securities said silver may witness volatile trade amid mixed cues. However, it expects buying interest to emerge at lower levels as gold may benefit from stimulus hopes and global economic concerns.

At 09:25 (GMT), the precious metal was up 0.10 percent, quoting at $25.94 an ounce in New York.