Shares in Silver Mining Companies Fall with Commodity Prices

The decrease in commodity prices Friday had a significant impact on silver mining company shares, as they mirrored the overall decline.

On the Comex division of the Nymex, silver dropped 87 cents to $17.83 an ounce in afternoon trading on Friday. The Dow Jones-AIG Silver Index was also down by 2.7 percent.

Some of the declines included Pan American Silver Corp. (nasdaq:PAAS) which fell $2.11, or 5.2 percent, to $38.42; Hecla Mining Co. (nyse:HL) fell 63 cents, or 4.9 percent, to $12.37; and Silver Wheaton Corp. (nyse:SLW) fell 74 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $16.49; Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp. 14 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $3.63 and Silver Standard Resources Inc. (nasdaq:SSRI) fell $1.31, or 4.3 percent, to $29.22.

Canaccord Adams analyst Steven Butler said that while the silver sell off followed the gold, the demand for silver keeps it different than gold as solely an inflation hedge.

Silver began the year on the spot market at $14.80 an ounce.