On February 24, the first trading day after the Spring Festival holiday, China's domestic futures market saw more gains than losses across major sectors.
In terms of sector performance, agricultural products were relatively weak, while the energy and chemical sectors posted modest overall gains. The metals sector, in particular, experienced broad-based advances. Precious metals stood out as the strongest performers, with silver leading the way. The main silver futures contract opened sharply higher and maintained gains of over 10% throughout the session.
Analysts noted that during the holiday period, changes in U.S. tariff policies heightened market risk aversion. Concurrently, non-ferrous metals are currently in a restocking phase, providing significant support for prices. In the short term, copper is expected to continue leading the non-ferrous metals complex, driven by three primary factors: persistent tightness in supply, escalating geopolitical risks increasing demand for strategic resource reserves, and the declining credibility of the U.S. dollar enhancing the financial attributes of non-ferrous metals.
Overseas precious metals markets exhibited a pattern of initial weakness followed by strength during the holiday. Notably, New York silver futures rebounded from a low of $71.82 per ounce and are now fluctuating near $88 per ounce.
Market observers indicated that international gold and silver prices were influenced by a combination of rising risk aversion, geopolitical tensions, and expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Uncertainty surrounding U.S. trade policy remains high, suggesting that domestic and international precious metals may maintain their bullish trend. Due to its wide range of industrial applications, silver is expected to demonstrate significantly greater price elasticity than gold going forward.
The strong performance of precious metals on the first trading day was largely attributed to the surge in international silver prices, coupled with tight supply conditions in the domestic spot market, creating a solid foundation for the rally. During periods of high volatility in precious metals, traders are advised to prioritize risk management over betting on one-sided market moves. Key considerations should include margin requirements, liquidity constraints, and maintaining sufficient safety buffers in positions to avoid forced liquidations if risks escalate.
Multiple commodity sectors strengthened on the first day back from the holiday, with significant capital inflows. Data shows that nearly 45 billion yuan flowed into commodity futures on February 24 compared to the previous session. By product, silver, gold, copper, and lithium carbonate futures attracted the most capital, with inflows of approximately 10 billion yuan for silver and 8 billion yuan for gold. As of now, the total capital parked in gold futures has reached 154.867 billion yuan, while silver futures have absorbed over 90 billion yuan, ranking them among the top commodity futures by capital holdings.