Spot silver traded at $19.97 per ounce on Thursday morning, representing an 1.6% gain on the week.

Silver tends to be grouped closely with its precious metal partner gold, as they are both used for jewellery and decorative purposes and are considered to be a good store of value. Unlike silver, however, gold is considered to be a safe-haven metal that tends to outperform during periods of uncertainty. As a matter of fact, gold has outperformed silver over the past year amidst worries about the eurozone economy. This explains why the performance of silver has lagged behind gold over the past year. However, silver is now beginning to catch up with gold’s performance, and likely to have entered a phase of outperformance. Silver is becoming increasingly important for its industrial use, a characteristic that gold does not share. Demand for silver is poised to increase as the world moves towards greener technologies and more energy efficient products. The white metal is considered to be the material of choice for solar reflectors and is also the best conductor of electricity, even more than copper. Silver was never used extensively for electrical wiring in the past because it costs relatively more than copper. However, the upgrading of electrical grids across many major cities and the push for more hybrid cars, which require enhanced conductivity, may provide a fundamental boost to silver demand. The metal also has medical applications and is used as a chemical catalyst.