Silver falls to £46.07 an ounce as oil-driven Fed rate fears bite

Silver had a rough start to the week, dropping to around £46.07 a troy ounce on Monday, or roughly £1.48 a gram, having traded closer to £48 on Friday. Two UK price trackers, Live Price of Gold and Exchange Rates UK, both quoted the metal in the same £46 region during the morning session.

The fall came alongside a similar drop in gold, both driven by the same story out of the oil market. Brent crude pushed above $107 a barrel after President Trump rejected an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to CNBC. Dearer oil stokes inflation worries, pushing traders to raise their bets on another US Federal Reserve rate rise. Higher rates tend to hurt silver more than gold, since silver pays no interest and is also an industrial metal, so it usually swings further in both directions. With gold near £3,185 an ounce today, the gold silver ratio, how many ounces of silver it takes to buy one ounce of gold, works out at roughly 69, towards the upper end of its recent range.

For UK buyers, a lower spot price is only part of the picture. The amount actually paid for bullion coins or bars also includes the dealer's premium, VAT where it applies, and delivery or storage costs, so it is worth comparing total, all in prices rather than spot alone.