Investing.com - Silver and gold futures rallied more than 1% on Tuesday, as some safe haven buying emerged amid concerns that the U.S. could be growing closer to taking possible military action against Syria’s government.
Investors often buy gold and silver as refuges against political uncertainty.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, silver futures for December delivery traded at USD24.30 a troy ounce during European morning trade, up 1.05%. The December contract settled up 1.15% at USD24.05 a troy ounce on Monday.
Silver futures rose by as much as 1.4% earlier in the session to hit a daily high of USD24.39 a troy ounce. Prices hit USD24.45 a troy ounce on Monday, the strongest level since May 6.
Silver prices are up almost 26% since hitting a three-year low of USD18.19 on June 28, placing it firmly in bull-market territory.
Silver prices were likely to find support at USD22.88 a troy ounce, the low from August 20 and near-term resistance at USD24.45, Tuesday’s high.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery rallied 1.2% to trade at USD1,410.10 a troy ounce, the highest since June 7.
Speculation mounted that the U.S. and other Western nations will intervene in Syria in wake of allegations Bashar al-Assad’s government forces used chemical weaponry against civilians.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that President Obama will hold Syria’s government accountable for using chemical weapons.
U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague said the U.K. is convinced Assad was behind the chemical weapon attack and that there was agreement with the U.S. and France on the need to respond.
Meanwhile, uncertainty over how soon the Federal Reserve will start to unwind stimulus measures continued after data on Monday showed that U.S. durable goods orders fell in July, raising concerns over domestic demand.
The Commerce Department said U.S. durable goods orders dropped 7.3% in July, worse than expectations for a 4% decline. It was the largest decline since August 2012.
The data came after a report on Friday showed that U.S. new home sales fell by a larger-than-forecast 13.4% in July, the largest decline in more than three years.
The central bank is scheduled to meet September 17-18 to review the economy and assess policy.
Moves in the gold and silver price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected.
