Precious Metals Continue to Slide; Experts Urge Caution on Outlook

Recently, multiple precious metals, including gold, silver, platinum and palladium, have declined across the board. Taking gold as an example, during the daytime trading session on October 15, the Au99.99 spot contract on the Shanghai Gold Exchange fell intraday to 880 yuan per gram, down roughly 30% from its high for the year. Silver fell even more sharply: on the same day, the main Shanghai Futures Exchange silver futures contract closed down more than 5%, dropping below 14,000 yuan per kilogram, with its cumulative decline from this year's high exceeding 50%. Domestic platinum and palladium futures have also been very weak, with the main Guangzhou Futures Exchange palladium futures contract hitting a record low since listing during intraday trading that day. The recent decline in precious metal prices has been influenced by multiple factors, including expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes, and the impact on upstream and downstream players in the precious metals industry chain varies. Experts interviewed generally believe that the outlook for precious metals should be viewed with caution. (Securities Times)