Silver futures trade at 5-week low amid Fed taper expectations

Silver futures fell to the lowest level in five-weeks on Wednesday, as investors looked ahead to the conclusion of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, with many traders expecting the central bank to start tapering the scale of its bond-buying program.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, silver futures for December delivery traded at USD21.74 a troy ounce during European morning trade, down 0.2%. The December contract ended down 1% at USD21.78 a troy ounce on Tuesday.

Silver prices fell by as much as 1.9% earlier in the day to hit a session low of USD21.37 a troy ounce, the weakest level since August 14. 

Silver prices were likely to find support at USD21.26 a troy ounce, the low from August 14 and resistance at USD22.29, the high from September 16.

Market analysts expect the Fed will start cutting monthly bond purchases by USD10 billion to USD75 billion when it concludes its two-day policy meeting later on Wednesday.

Monthly purchases of Treasuries will be scaled back by USD10 billion to USD35 billion, while mortgage-bond buying will remain unchanged at USD40 billion.

Moves in the silver price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its quantitative easing program sooner-than-expected.

The precious metal is on track to post a loss of nearly 29% on the year as traders bet an improving U.S. economy would lead the Fed to unwind its stimulus program by the year's end.

Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery shed 0.35% to trade at USD1,304.70 a troy ounce, while copper for December added 0.5% to trade at USD3.240 a pound.