NEW DELHI, Aug. 28 -- Silver's seven-week rally met a wall on Raksha Bandhan. Spot silver across Indian cities shed Rs.18,000 per kilogram in a single session - dropping from Rs.2,60,000 on Thursday to Rs.2,42,000 on Friday morning - as festival-season profit-booking unwound positions that had built steadily since the first week of July.

At Rs.242 per gram, the metal is still up nearly 20% in August alone and 74% year on year. The question for anyone buying jewelry or bullion today is whether that Rs.18,000 correction marks a local ceiling or a brief pause in a structural rally the Silver Institute says is backed by a 67-million-ounce supply deficit in 2026.

MCX August futures settled near Rs.2.41 lakh per kilogram as of Friday morning,...