UNITED STATES December 02 2014 11:25 AMTweet 
NEW YORK (Scrap Register): Silver turned higher Monday on bargain hunting after earlier hitting a multi-year low, said Mitsubishi.

The metal bottomed at $14.155 an ounce, its weakest level since 2009, basis a futures continuation chart. However, as of 8:10 a.m. EST, Comex March silver was up 16.4 cents to $15.72 an ounce.

Silver was on a modest uptrend early last week before coming under pressure from falling oil prices, which raised disinflationary concerns, Mitsubishi says.

After hitting its low overnight following the Swiss referendum-related sell-off in gold, bargain-hunting investors came in to drive prices back above $15.

"Whether current low prices result in as substantial a physical demand response as previously depends partly on India, the world's largest silver market. Some consumers in India who would ordinarily have bought gold have bought silver - ‘poor man's gold' - in the last 18 months amid soaring gold premiums due to import restrictions,” said analysts with Mitsubishi.

The market will watch to see what happens to Indian silver demand now that authorities have dropped the so-called 80-20 rule meant to limit gold imports.