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Gold/Mining/Energy : Silver prices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: chevalier who wrote (1625)	2/1/1999 5:55:00 PM
From: Stephen O	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8010

Silver Rises as Climbing Lease Rates Signal Lower Supply New York, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Silver rose more than 1 percent to its highest price in three weeks as the soaring cost of borrowing the metal signaled falling supplies. The one-month lease rate for silver in London surged to an annual rate of 2.59 percent, its highest point since early October, as investors sought to borrow the metal while supplies are available, traders said. Stockpiles in New York Mercantile Exchange warehouses stand at 75.168 million ounces, their lowest point since mid-November. ''Lease rates are firming up and there's been increased borrowing, especially in the London market. That signals things are tightening up,'' said William O'Neill, director of futures research at Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York. ''Silver is capable of climbing another 20 cents.'' Silver for March delivery rose 7.3 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $5.308 an ounce on the Comex division of the Nymex, the highest closing price since Jan. 11. Silver prices are up almost 6 percent so far this year. In London interbank trading, silver for immediate delivery climbed 8 cents to $5.325 an ounce. Silver demand has outpaced production for the last nine years, according to the Silver Institute in Washington D.C., resulting in a steady drop of inventories. That drew investors into the market, anticipating a further tightening of supply and higher prices. A year ago this week, billionaire Warren Buffett's investment company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., announced that it owned 130 million ounces of silver, an amount equal to about a quarter of annual worldwide production. During the period that Berkshire Hathaway bought silver -- July 1997 through January 1998 -- stockpiles in Comex warehouses fell 37 percent.