After plunging nearly 20%, gold and silver ETFs managed to offset some of their losses on Monday. The Bombay Stock Exchange, imposed trading limits on ETFs of the two metals due to increased volitality. The imit came after a sharp sell-off from record highs, which sparked massive price swings across bullion markets and related exchange-traded funds.MCX silver futures expiring on March 5, 2026 slipped to Rs 2,55,652 per kg before recovering to around Rs 2,67,500. Gold futures for April 2, 2026 delivery bounced back from an intraday low of Rs 1,43,501 per 10 grams to about Rs 1,47,400. In the previous session, silver futures had fallen Rs 26,273, or 9%, to settle at Rs 2,65,652 per kg, while gold April futures declined 3%, or Rs 4,592, to close at Rs 1,47,753 per 10 grams. Meanwhile in international markets, spot gold fell 1.5% to $4,793.97 per ounce as of 0046 GMT, after hitting a more than one-week low on Friday. The drop came a day after gold touched a record high of $5,594.82. Spot silver rose 1.6% to $85.98 an ounce, though it remains far below its all-time high of $121.64 reached on Thursday.The sharp fall came after both metals corrected steeply from recent record highs. Investors booked profits while traders exited their positions, leading to heavy selling. Adding to the fall were global factors, with the US dollar holding firm as markets assessed the potential policy stance of the US Federal Reserve under Kevin Warsh.
ETFs crash – Bombay Stock Exchange imposes circuit
BSE imposed a 20% circuit limit on gold and silver ETFs, due to the massive drop in prices. For the current trading session, ETF prices are being linked to the previous day’s net asset value (T-1 NAV), with trading allowed only within a plus or minus 20% range. Earlier in the session, gold and silver ETFs had crashed nearly 20% before recovering part of the losses by mid-trade. Some ETFs managed to bounce back up to 10%. Zerodha Gold ETF, Nippon India Gold ETF and Aditya Birla Sun Life Gold ETF, which had fallen as much as 9%, later recovered and were trading around 5% lower. Axis Silver ETF hit the lower circuit before rebounding nearly 10% to around Rs 231. Edelweiss Silver ETF also dropped close to 20% before recovering nearly 10% to Rs 232.17.
Massive wipeoff
The recent sell-off has wiped out significant value. On February 1, silver fell nearly 9%, erasing Rs 1.35 lakh in value over two days, while gold slipped more than Rs 31,000 in the same period. On January 30, silver saw its worst-ever crash on the MCX, plunging up to 27%, or Rs 1,07,968, in a single day, falling below the Rs 3 lakh mark just a day after hitting a record high of Rs 4 lakh. Gold also suffered a sharp fall, dropping as much as 12%, or Rs 20,514, marking its worst one-day decline since March 2013.Jigar Trivedi, senior research analyst at IndusInd Securities told ET that the white metal had fallen over 6% to about $79 an ounce and remained under pressure as markets were still digesting Friday’s 26% crash, registering the sharpest single-day fall on record. He noted that ongoing geopolitical and economic uncertainties, coupled with worries over the US Federal Reserve’s independence, had strengthened silver’s safe-haven status. However, momentum-driven buying, including heavy participation by Chinese speculators, had fuelled the rally and later deepened the sell-off as investors rushed to book profits. On the domestic front, Trivedi predicted MCX silver March contracts to slip further, towards Rs 2,45,000 per kg, as the global silver sell-off has not yet fully played out.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)
