Gold rose on Friday, while silver faced volatility amid a global stock market collapse, as US exchange operator CME raised margins on precious metals for the third time this year to reduce risks, UNN reports with reference to Reuters.
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Spot gold rose 2.3% to $4,879.45 an ounce by 05:52 GMT (07:52 Kyiv time) and was up 0.3% for the week. US gold futures for April delivery added 0.2% to $4,897.20 an ounce.
Spot silver rose 3.8% to $73.91 an ounce after falling about 10% in early Asian trading below $65, a more than one-and-a-half-month low. The last session saw a 19.1% drop.
For the week, silver prices fell more than 13% after an 18% drop last week, the largest weekly decline since 2011.
The sole Chinese silver futures fund, UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund, fell 10% on Friday within its daily limit, its sixth consecutive session of declines.
"There's a lot of evidence that there's a general decline in risk appetite. In the current environment, gold is generally holding its own, and silver is falling under pressure from risk reduction," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.
Global stock markets continued their decline for a third consecutive session, as the Wall Street sell-off intensified, and precious metals and cryptocurrencies were gripped by severe volatility.
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"The correction in gold and silver prices came at the right time, just before the Chinese New Year. So we may see an increase in purchases from Chinese consumers," said ANZ analyst Soni Kumari, adding that short-term volatility may persist until a partial unwinding of weak positions occurs.
On Thursday, CME Group raised margin requirements for gold and silver contracts, as the world's largest commodity exchange seeks to reduce risks associated with increased volatility.
Spot platinum rose 0.4% to $1,993.95 an ounce after reaching an all-time high of $2,918.80 on January 26, while palladium rose 2.2% to $1,651.74. Both metals were down for the week.