PRECIOUS-Silver extends golden run as retail frenzy jitters linger

* Gold down 1.5% for the month
* Silver set to post best week since early Nov., up 8%
* Palladium on track for biggest monthly decline since April
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://tmsnrt.rs/3mvcUoa

(Adds analyst comments, graphic, updates prices)
By Asha Sistla
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Silver rose more than 4% on Friday
following a near 5% gain on Thursday that came after messages on
Reddit urged retail investors to pile into the market in an
attempt to push prices higher.
Precious metals were also helped by a retreat in equities as
hedge funds and retail investors continue to battle over
valuations and European countries fight over COVID-19 vaccine
supply, with gold up more than 1%. MKTS/GLOB
Silver surged as much as 7% on Thursday after calls
circulated on Reddit for people to buy silver mining stocks and
iShares Silver Trust SLV , an exchange traded fund (ETF) backed
by physical metal, in a GameStop-style squeeze. Some mining stocks surged and trading of iShares Silver
Trust SLV rose sharply, while some silver traders covered
short positions to avoid being caught by rising prices.
Sustained buying of silver ETFs could lift silver prices by
making its operator buy more metal to back its shares, but most
analysts think the surge in retail interest will have little
long-term impact.
"We are confident that the influence of retail investors on
silver will not last all that long, and that ultimately
industrial and institutional demand will be the key factor in
the longer term," Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg said in a
note.
He said that demand for silver and gold would anyway remain
strong as investors sheltered from risks including turmoil on
financial markets by buying the metals typically seen as safe
stores of value.
By 1309 GMT on Friday spot silver XAG= was up 3.9% to
$27.39 an ounce and up 8% this week, its biggest weekly gain
since early November.
Spot gold XAU= , meanwhile, rose 1.4% to $1,865.20 per
ounce. U.S. gold futures GCv1 rose 1.6% to $1,867.40.
But gold was down about 1.5% so far this month, on track for
its worst January since 2011, on a resilient dollar .DXY .
USD/
Platinum XPT= rose 2.2% to $1,093.91, while palladium
XPD= fell 0.4% to $2,326.53.


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Gold silver ratio https://tmsnrt.rs/3or2aI3
Gold faces worst January in a decade https://tmsnrt.rs/3orBNSA
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