CME Group Ltd., the owner of the Comex exchange, said this week the minimum amount of cash that must be deposited when borrowing from brokers to trade silver futures will rise to $16,200 per contract at the close of business yesterday from $14,513. A year ago, the margin was $4,250.

"Silver is often the lead indicator for changes in trends, or at least for corrections," David Wilson, an analyst at Societe Generale SA, wrote in a note. After futures rallied to a record $50.35 an ounce in January 1980, prices dropped 78% in four months.

From the start of this year to the end of April, silver futures rallied 57% and were the best performer among the 24 raw materials tracked by the Standard & Poor's GSCI Index.

Silver assets held in exchange traded products fell 1.1% to 15,169.80 metric tons yesterday, while gold holdings stood little changed at 2,069.78 tons, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

First « 1 2 » Next