Silver prices rose to Rs 70,518 per kg on February 9 as participants increased their long positions as seen by the open interest. The precious metal had gained 2.1 percent on February 8 on the COMEX.

The white metal traded in the green after a gap up open, tracking gains in gold and weaker dollar.

Silver prices were supported by the optimism of a large US economic stimulus package bolstering precious metals appeal.

Silver holdings in iShares ETF were unchanged at 20,364.27 tonnes.

The US Dollar Index traded lower at 91.58 levels, down 0.39 percent, in the afternoon trade.

MCX iCOMDEX Bullion Index inched higher 77.37 points, or up 0.51 percent, at 15,284.58 at 14:51. The index tracks the real-time performance of MCX Gold and MCX Silver futures.

“International silver prices are trading with gains this Tuesday morning and early afternoon trade in Asia amid hopes of a massive US stimulus package to support the economy boosted the appeal of the precious metal. Technically, LBMA Silver Spot is trading above $27 level and further could witness momentum up to $27.60-28.70 levels whereas support is at $26.80-25.75 levels,” said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

MCX Silver March witnessed a bounce back from 21-DMA at Rs 67,300 level and ended above Rs 70,000 indicating a sideways to upside momentum up to Rs 70,800-71,500 levels, he said.

In the futures market, silver for March delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 70,444 and a low of Rs 69,860 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 soared Rs 434, or 0.62 percent, to Rs 70,518 per kg at 14:59 hours with a business turnover of 13,559 lots. The same for the May contract jumped Rs 422, or 0.59 percent, to Rs 71,562 per kg with a turnover of 1,776 lots.

The value of March and May’s contracts traded so far is Rs 1,038.52 crore and Rs 17.75 crore, respectively.

The spot gold/silver ratio currently stands at 66.82 to 1 indicating that silver has outperformed gold.

“MCX Silver is trading above Rs 70,000 it broke the resistance and closed above 9 days SMA placed near Rs 69,235. The downside support shift for the metal is Rs 68,400-67,500 whereas resistance is at Rs 70,500-71,200 levels,” said Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency and Commodities, CapitalVia Global Research.

The gold-silver ratio has recovered from 2014 lows, but remains low near 66 levels which indicates that silver is still overpriced again against gold, said Kotak Securities.

At 09:34 (GMT), the precious metal was up 0.44 percent quoting at $27.69 an ounce in New York.