Rohit Savant

Gold prices are expected to remain elevated through 2026, although periodic consolidation or tactical pullbacks are likely. Prices are expected to potentially establish fresh record highs during the year. Gold’s resilience is underpinned by a combination of financial market, geopolitical, and macroeconomic factors. Persistent uncertainty remains a key driver of investor demand, supported by the K-shaped structure of the global economy and ongoing political tensions. While equity markets have remained strong, much of this performance is increasingly concentrated in artificial intelligence–related themes, raising concerns around the durability of equity market strength. As a result, gold continues to serve as an effective portfolio diversifier and hedge against equity market fragility. In addition, expectations for structurally higher fiscal deficits, ongoing central bank gold purchases, and balance sheet expansion should provide further medium-term support for prices. Three most important factors: • Political Risk • Entrenched K-shaped Economy • Deglobalisation

The fundamental drivers supporting higher silver prices have been in place for several years; however, 2025 marked a clear inflection point, as investors materially increased net purchases, providing the catalyst for a sustained upside breakout. Silver prices are expected to remain elevated through 2026, as many of the investment drivers that underpin gold—macroeconomic uncertainty, geopolitical risk, and portfolio diversification demand—are also applicable to silver. Continued investor participation is therefore likely to remain a key pillar of price support. Price volatility should be expected, with periodic pullbacks likely over the course of the year. Given the magnitude and speed of recent gains, the risk of sharp, short-term corrections cannot be ruled out. While investors are expected to keep prices elevated, higher prices are expected to weigh on fabrication demand, particularly in price-sensitive industrial applications, potentially limiting upside during periods of weaker investor inflows.

The generally favourable sentiment toward the precious metals complex is expected to help keep platinum prices elevated in the near term. However, a significant portion of the supportive narrative appears to be already reflected in current price levels. Absent a material or sustained threat to mine supply, platinum prices could drift lower over the course of 2026. Platinum is likely to soften following the seasonally strong first-quarter period, as investor positioning normalises and near-term catalysts fade. On the demand side, fabrication demand may face headwinds, particularly from a slowing global commercial vehicle market, which remains a key end-use sector for platinum. That said, incrementally tighter emissions standards in China and Europe should provide a partial offset, supporting baseline demand for autocatalyst applications. Overall, the balance of risks appears skewed toward range-bound to modestly softer prices absent a supply-side disruption.

Palladium prices are likely to move at an elevated level in 2026, compared to where they were during the first half of 2025, but for prices to continue rising sharply would require a meaningful improvement in fundamentals. While some countries are expected to see a decline in palladium mine supply during 2026, overall palladium mine supply is expected to rise during the year. News of the European Union reversing its plan to ban internal combustion vehicles is a positive for all platinum group metals (PGM) demand; this is a long term positive, however. The short term is not looking particularly compelling for passenger vehicle demand during 2026.