With gold at last piercing a new high, investors may next turn their attention to silver, which now looks overdue for a rally even as it and other metals remain constrained by a halting global industrial recovery. Often dubbed bullion's bridesmaid, silver is now trading at near its lowest ratio to gold in a year, slipping to around the equivalent of 59 units per ounce of gold, just above September's low and down more than a quarter from the peak in late 2008. For a graphic on gold to silver ratio, click on the link: here Signs are emerging of investors seeking an alternative to gold -- which hit a lifetime high of $1,048.20 an ounce on Wednesday, surpassing the previous record in March 2008 -- as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar. India's HDFC Bank, a large seller of gold in the world's top consumer of the metal, is looking at offering silver bars for sale in some cities because of interest from investors, a bank executive said on Wednesday. "If it does move higher, you'd expect silver to outperform. The last time gold hit its high, silver was trading at $20. It's got a lot of catching up to do," said Mark Hewlett, a commodity analyst at Cornhill Capital in London. Silver was little changed at $17.44 on Wednesday, moving closer to a 13-month peak of $17.63 in the middle of September but nearly 19 percent below its record high of $21.24 from March 17, 2008, the same time gold last peaked. Unlike gold, investment into the world's largest silver-backed exchange-traded fund, the iShares Silver Trust, has flatlined for the past three months, while gold inflows have boosted ETF holdings to near record highs. Silver holdings were unchanged at 8,594.22 tonnes.

Source