NEW DELHI, Jan 4, 2026, 20:05 ET
- Silver is down about 13.75% from an international record high reached earlier this week, one report said.
- Gold futures and domestic benchmark rates in India have also slipped from late-2025 peaks, according to local reports.
- A fund manager in India flagged IT and chemicals as “contrarian” 2026 bets as investors weigh where returns may come from.
Silver prices have slipped about 13% from a record high and some market watchers see the metal dropping as much as 60% by the end of India’s fiscal 2027, after a surge that has started to squeeze industrial users. Silver hit $82.670 an ounce in the international market on Monday and fell to $71.300 by Friday, a drop of $11.37, Live Hindustan reported. After a 180% jump in 2025, the report said, analysts warned that high prices were pushing end-users to consider substitutes, even as short covering — buying back to close bearish positions — could briefly lift silver toward $100 an ounce as soon as February. 1
The pullback is landing just days into 2026, after a late-year rally that pushed bullion prices in India to fresh lifetime highs and drew heavy retail attention to daily “gold rate” and “silver price” screens.
It also forces a reset for investors who used gold and silver as a hedge in 2025 and are now deciding whether to keep adding at elevated levels or rotate into other assets as earnings season approaches.
In India, gold futures on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) — the country’s main commodity derivatives bourse — have fallen sharply over the past week, according to local reports. Aaj Tak reported that the Feb. 5 contract for 24-carat gold slid to 135,752 rupees per 10 grams on Friday from 139,873 rupees on Dec. 26, and was down 4,704 rupees from its lifetime high of 140,456.
Spot benchmarks tracked by the Indian Bullion Jewellers Association (IBJA), an industry body whose reference rates are widely used by jewelers, also eased, the report said. Aaj Tak said IBJA’s 24-carat gold rate fell to 134,782 rupees per 10 grams from 137,956 over the week, while silver was still 17,575 rupees per kg below its lifetime high of 254,174. 2
Silver’s heavy industrial footprint makes its swings harder to read than gold’s, traders say, because demand is tied not just to investment flows but also to manufacturing cycles. The metal is used across electronics and solar supply chains, where price spikes can accelerate efforts to swap in cheaper materials.
Some equity advisers are pitching a different playbook for 2026. “IT and chemicals are my contrarian bets for 2026,” Siddharth Vora, head of quant investment strategy and a fund manager at PL Asset Management, told Moneycontrol, using “contrarian” to mean positions taken against prevailing sentiment.
Vora said he sees scope for a 10% or higher market rally in 2026, supported by stronger earnings growth off a low base, steady domestic liquidity and valuations he described as neutral. He also pointed to stock-specific opportunities in areas such as real estate and paints, while urging caution on high-valuation “new age” digital consumer names as investors focus more on profitability and cash flow. 3
The big risk is that both narratives break the other way. Silver has a long record of violent reversals, and a burst of short covering or renewed supply anxiety can quickly overwhelm the “substitution” story, while equity sector calls depend on earnings delivering and global conditions not souring.
For now, traders are watching whether bullion stabilises after the week’s slide and whether the coming quarterly results season brings the earnings upgrades stock bulls are counting on.
