Feb 1 (Reuters) - Silver soared as much as 7.4% to climb a
nearly six-month peak on Monday, after social media posts last
week called for retail investors to flood into the market and
push up prices of the precious metal.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot silver XAG= hit its highest since Aug. 11 at $28.98
an ounce, and was up 5.4% to 28.45 by 0049 GMT.
* Silver has risen nearly 15% since Thursday, when posts
began circulating on Reddit urging retail investors 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. * Buying an ETF can boost silver prices by increasing the
number of shares in the fund and making its operator buy more
metal to back them.
* The gold/silver ratio, which measures the number of silver
ounces needed to buy an ounce of gold, fell to its lowest since
2014.
* Speculators upped their bullish positions in COMEX gold
and silver contracts in the week to Jan. 26, data showed on
Friday. * Spot gold XAU= rose 0.3% to $1,852.35 per ounce. U.S.
gold futures GCv1 gained 0.3% to $1,856.30.
* Meanwhile, 10 moderate Republican U.S. senators urged
President Joe Biden on Sunday to significantly downsize his
sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package. * Elsewhere, platinum XPT= eased 0.1% at $1,072 and
palladium XPD= shed 0.2% to $2,222.46.
DATA/EVENTS (GMT)
0500 India IHS Markit Mfg PMI Jan
0600 Russia Markit Mfg PMI Jan
0745 France Reserve Assets Total Jan
0845 France Markit/IHS Mfg PMI Jan
0850 France Markit Mfg PMI Jan
0855 Germany Markit/BME Mfg PMI Jan
0900 EU Markit Mfg Final PMI Jan
0930 UK Markit/CIPS Mfg PMI Final Jan
1000 EU Unemployment Rate Dec
1300 Brazil Markit Mfg PMI Jan
1445 US Markit Mfg PMI Final Jan
1500 US ISM Manufacturing PMI Jan