Silver miner exchange traded funds made a quick turnaround, now trading around their short term trends, as silver prices hit a two-week high.
The PureFunds ISE Junior Silver ETF (NYSEArca: SILJ) surged 9.8% Friday while the Global X Silver Miners ETF (NYSEArca: SIL) increased 5.0%. SIL rose an additional 5.6% on Monday morning. Silver miners are now testing their 50-day moving average. The last time silver stocks were above their short term trend line was back in November 2012. SIL is still about 20% below its 200-day moving average.
Precious metals are gaining on speculation that demand will increase amid positive signs in the Chinese economy, reports Debarati Roy for Bloomberg.
“There is optimism about higher demand from China as the economy improves,” Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC, said in the Bloomberg article. “The bullish mood in the industrial-metal complex is helping gold and silver.” [Have Gold Miner ETFs Finally Hit Bottom?]
Silver futures were 1% higher Friday, trading around $20.5 per ounce. Meanwhile, the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV) gained 0.8%.
In turn, the improving silver prices has helped lift silver mining stocks, one of the worst performers so far this year. [Gold Rebound Fuels Upturn in Mining Stock ETFs]