Silver futures hit lower circuit on global selloff

Prices of some of the silver futures contracts on MCX hit the lower circuit level late on Monday following a sharp sell-off in the white metal in the international markets. After hitting historic highs in the international and domestic markets about two weeks ago, silver has been facing sharp sell-offs and prices in the two markets are now down between 12% and 14%. Late on Monday on MCX, silver futures contracts for Dec delivery was down 3.1% at nearly Rs 1.43 lakh/kg level, with the day’s low at Rs 1.41 lakh, exchange data showed. On MCX, product specifications for derivatives contracts say that the circuit levels for futures contracts on non-agro commodities are fixed at 3% of the previous day’s closing price and in some cases the same could be extended up to 4%. On Oct 19, silver futures contracts for Dec delivery had touched a high of Rs 1,67,663 level. Since then the price for this and other contracts have been on a continuous slide. Exchange data also showed that silver futures for mar 2026 delivery were down 2.7%, May 2026 delivery down 3.4% while for July 2026 the price drop was 2.7%. “It’s been a while since I saw a lower circuit on MCX silver futures,” said a prop trader. In the spot market for bullions in Mumbai, silver prices on Monday were down by about Rs 3,000 or 2% for the day, at Rs 1,46,500/kg, ETIG data showed. In the spot market, the all-time high was recorded at Rs 1,82,500 in Mumbai while in some pockets of the country the price had broken above the Rs 1.9 lakh market, local traders said. Earlier in the day, in a note to investors, Rahul Kalantri, VP Commodities, Mehta Equities said that the recent slides in the price of silver and also gold were “primarily driven by a stronger dollar index and encouraging developments in the US trade negotiations with China and India. Sentiment was further influenced by the Gaza peace progress, leading to profit-taking (in precious metals) across the board.” Going forward, traders and investors are looking at the US central bank’s decision on interest rates in the world’s largest economy. On Wednesday, the US Fed will announce its decision on interest rates, and most analysts and economists expect it to cut rates by 25 basis points (100 basis points = 1 percentage points). In case of a rate cut, there could be a rally in the prices of the two precious metals, market players said.