Precious metal markets in 2025 witnessed remarkable increases, with gold leading the way, recording a strong rise of over 65% since the beginning of the year. Silver followed this upward trend at a faster pace, achieving a jump of over 150%.
In a special coverage of the performance of commodity and asset markets during 2025, “Al-Sharq” addressed the factors that led to this exceptional performance, in addition to the expectations for the new year.
The report quoted Peter Thomas, President at AU Secure, as saying that the rise in gold was a result of large purchases by central banks, along with individuals hedging against geopolitical tensions and uncertainty related to currencies and sovereign debts. Thomas predicted a further rise in 2026 due to continued tensions around Taiwan, Venezuela, and other regions, in addition to the impact of the expected US interest rate cuts and declining bond yields, which may encourage the transfer of funds to gold.
Positive prospects for silver
As for silver, Thomas attributed its significant rise in recent months to strong demand, given its transformation into an industrial metal used in the components of growing sectors such as solar panels, electric cars, and artificial intelligence. He pointed out that despite price fluctuations and the significant differences between commodity exchanges in Shanghai, New York, and Chicago, purchases continued strongly.
The report mentioned that the rise of silver in the second half of the year was an unexpected shift, as it exceeded the record level recorded in the last century in October, amid concerns about customs duties that raised US imports of silver and caused a shortage of supply in the London Stock Exchange, coinciding with increased demand from India.
Thomas believes that the level of $86 is a technical figure for the price of silver, with the possibility of it reaching $100 per ounce during the new year if this level is maintained.
Decline at the end of the year
Despite the large gains, gold and silver prices fell on the last trading days of 2025. Gold fell by 0.6% to $4,313.14 per ounce (11:13 AM London time), while silver fell by more than 5.8% to $72 per ounce.
Platinum hits a record level
This momentum extended to platinum, which surpassed a trading pattern that lasted for years and achieved a record level driven by supply shortages, after concerns about customs duties led the United States to keep the metal in warehouses, in parallel with increased trading activity in new futures contracts in China. Platinum is heading to record a third annual deficit, after disruptions in South Africa, with expectations that the supply shortage will continue until the results of the US investigations appear, which may lead to the imposition of customs duties on platinum, and silver as well. (Al-Sharq)
