PRECIOUS-Silver extends golden run as retail frenzy persists

* Gold down 2.5% for the month
* Silver set for biggest weekly gain since mid-Dec, up 6.3%
* Palladium on track for biggest monthly decline since April
* Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://tmsnrt.rs/3mvcUoa

(Updates prices, market activity)
By Shreyansi Singh
Jan 29 (Reuters) - Silver continued a blistering rally on
Friday, taking its gains to around 10% since messages began to
circulate on Reddit on Thursday morning urging retail investors
to pile into the market and drive up prices.
Silver's surge rubbed off on gold, which jumped as much as
2%.
The two were also helped by a softer dollar, which makes
them cheaper for buyers holding other currencies, and falling
stock markets. MKTS/GLOB .N
Silver soared as much as 7% on Thursday after calls appeared
on Reddit to buy silver mining stocks and iShares Silver Trust
SLV , an exchange traded fund (ETF) backed by physical silver
bars, in a GameStop-style squeeze. Some silver traders covered short positions to avoid being
caught by rising prices, while some mining stocks surged and
trading of iShares Silver rose almost four-fold. Buying an ETF can bolster silver prices by increasing the
number of shares in the fund and making its operator buy more
metal to back them.
Analysts said they expected the rally to be short lived,
with the size of the market making it far less easy to influence
than companies like GameStop GME.N .
"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.
By 01:43 p.m. EST (1843 GMT) on Friday, silver XAG= was up
2.5% at $27.04 an ounce, en route to its best weekly gain since
mid-December, at more than 6%.
Standard Chartered analyst Suki Cooper said she expected
solid demand for silver from investors and industry to lift
prices towards $30 during the first half of 2021.
Spot gold XAU= , meanwhile, rose 0.6% to $1,851.01 an
ounce. U.S. gold futures GCv1 settled up 0.5% to $1,850.30.
But gold was on track for its worst January since 2011,
something many analysts attribute to the recently strengthening
dollar and increasing investor focus on assets that will benefit
from economic recovery. .DXY . USD/
Platinum XPT= rose 0.4% to $1,074.67, while palladium
XPD= fell 4.6% to $2,227.25.


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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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