Silver best-performing asset over last 5 years

NEW DELHI: Looking for the best returns on your hard-earned money? Call up any market player and the advice you are likely to get is to invest in silver.

The precious metal has emerged as the best-performing asset both over the last 12 months as well as over the last five years, comfortably outpacing gold, the traditional favourite.

(Read: Now, silver is worth its weight in gold and more)

"Silver is the new gold," confirmed Jayant Manglik, president of brokerage firm Religare Commodities.

The metal has already surpassed projections for 2011 that were in the region of $30 an ounce.

Over the last five years, silver has given a return of over 240%. Similarly, if you had bought silver worth Rs 100 a year ago, it would now be worth more than Rs 200. In contrast, gold has given a return of 150% over five years and 25% over the last 12 months (see graphic).

The appreciation has meant that silver almost touched a record of Rs 50,000 a kg on Tuesday. In Delhi, a kilogram of silver costs Rs 49,300, Rs 400 lower than the record level seen on Tuesday. In the international market, it was trading at $39.92 an ounce after advancing to $34.31 on Tuesday, the highest level since March 1980.

Though it is off the highs seen on Tuesday, most analysts are predicting a further rise in prices over the next few months.

Economic recovery has pushed demand and prices of commodities globally. But silver has outperformed almost all significant metals and has given returns that are higher than what the Sensex or crude petroleum would have earned over one year as well as over the last five years.