Silver slips from 8-year peak as investors book profits

Silver prices fell more than 2% on Tuesday as investors booked profits following a rally of as much as 11.2% to a near eight-year peak in the previous session.

Spot silver was down 1.7% to $28.48 an ounce by 0039 GMT, having hit $30.03 on Monday, its highest since February 2013.

Silver prices rocketed as retail investors, egged on by messages on Reddit, pile into the market in an attempt to push up prices. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is “closely monitoring” recent activity in silver markets, the agency's acting chairman said on Monday, as last week's volatility in securities markets spilled into trading of the precious metal. CME Group Inc CME.O on Monday raised Comex 5000 Silver Futures margins by 17.9% to $16,500 per contract from $14,000 for February.

The retail investment frenzy in silver has left dealers from the United States to Singapore scrambling for bars and coins to meet demand. Spot gold eased 0.2% to $1,856.86 per ounce. U.S. gold futures shed 0.3% to $1,858.60.