Silver slides to about £41 an ounce as the gold-silver ratio widens past 74

Silver ended last week at roughly £41 a troy ounce, or about £1.31 a gram before dealer costs. That is our approximate conversion of the $54.02 quoted by USAGOLD on Friday, which was down 1.07 per cent on the day. Silver has now fallen from about $57 on Wednesday and is down around 24 per cent so far this year, according to the same report.

Gold has held up far better. It was trading near $4,032 an ounce, roughly £3,050, after briefly dipping under $4,000 in Asian trade. That gap has pushed the gold-silver ratio, the number of silver ounces needed to buy one ounce of gold, past 74. Earlier in October, with silver near $61, it sat in the high 60s.

The driver is oil. Brent crude has reached its highest since May on renewed Middle East supply fears, and traders now price roughly an 86 per cent chance of a US rate rise in December. Higher rates tend to weigh on metals that pay no interest, and silver, with its industrial demand, usually falls harder than gold in such moves.

The Federal Reserve meets on 27 and 28 October, so expect volatility. For UK buyers, most silver bullion carries 20 per cent VAT, unlike investment gold, so compare the all-in price: spot plus premium, VAT and delivery. This is market information, not financial advice.