SILVER rebounded Friday, shooting back towards yesterday's new all-time highs while the price of gold halved its steep drop to head for the 6th new week-end record in a row amid worsening market disruption worldwide.

Wholesale bullion dealers reported wide spreads and delayed settlement times in major centres from London to Zurich and Singapore for gold and silver as well as for platinum and palladium, also now trading at multi-year price highs.

Silver borrowing costs leapt again, jumping towards 35% per annum on 1-month London lease rates according to Bloomberg, as the industrially-useful precious metal rose back above its 1980 and 2011 peaks at $50 per ounce.

"Strong imports in India have exacerbated tightness in the global silver market," say specialists analysts Metals Focus.

"US tariff-driven shipments and sustained inflows into silver ETPs have already contributed to a sharp drop in liquidity in the London [wholesale] OTC market."

Gold prices on the Shanghai Gold Exchange meantime fell 1.4% from yesterday's new all-time high above ¥911 per gram, making the sharpest 1-day drop in 10 weeks.

That still left gold prices in China, the precious metal's No.1 mining, importing, consumer and central-bank buying nation, at a deep discount to global trading-and-storage hub London of $47 per ounce.

"Some jewelers at Istanbul's Grand Bazaar have halted gold sales," reports Turkiye Today, as the spread between buying and selling prices jumped near 10% "amid unprecedented volatility."

Consumers in Greece have sold 70,000 gold Sovereign coins back to the central bank so far this year against 40,000 of new purchases.

Trading $10 below $4000 per Troy ounce in London this morning, gold bullion last made a stronger run of week-end records at the summer 2011 peak, and the New Year 1980 top before that. Both proved to be big long-term tops in the gold price.

"It's a very good time to sell," says a jewellery owner quoted by Channel News Asia in a report titled 'Hong Kongers rush to sell family jewels as gold glitters'.

"People are investing in gold bars and coins, but jewellery demand has been low," Reuters quotes a Hong Kong retailer.

With India now half way through its festive gold-buying season, "Investment demand is really strong right now," says a bullion dealer in Mumbai amid India's festive gold-buying season, where traditional jewellery purchases are being switched for bars, coins, ETFs and 'digital gold' accounts.

"Expecting prices to rise further, investors [this week] didn't mind paying extra even over record high prices."

Last month's fresh record prices saw the Central Bank of Brazil increase its gold reserves by almost 16 tonnes − "its first addition of gold since July 2021," according to Krishan Gopaul, senior analyst at the mining industry's World Gold Council.