Silver price remains range-bound as investors focus on the Fed Chair’s speech scheduled later in Friday’s session. If Powell maintains a cautious stance, the bulls may manage to boost the precious metal to the recently evasive level of $24.
Even with a hawkish tone, the metal’s industrial demand will likely boost its price above the crucial support level of $23. According to Metals Focus, it will likely record an 8% YoY growth. This is largely due to the rising demand for electric vehicles and solar panels. Earlier in the year, it forecasted that its price would average at $27.30 in the current year.
Silver price has been trading within a rather tight range since the beginning of the week. The resultant horizontal channel has its upper and lower borders at 23.94 and 23.43 respectively. Since the plunge recorded two-and-a-half weeks ago, the bulls have lacked enough momentum to retest the resistance level at 24.
At the time of writing, silver price was up by 0.25% at 23.61. On a three-hour chart, it is trading along the 25 and 50-day exponential moving averages that have converged at around 23.65. I expect the commodity to continue with its sideways trading as investors await further cues from the Fed Chair’s speech later in today’s session.
If Jerome Powell maintains a cautious stance, the precious metal will likely attract enough buyers to push its price to the evasive level of 24. A move further up will place the resistance level at 24.39.
On the flip side, a hawkish tone will likely have the bears retesting the crucial support level of 23. With the metal’s industrial demand still positive, I am of the opinion that silver price will bounce off that support zone in the short term.