(Kitco News) - Margins for gold and silver futures on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile will rise as of the end of business Friday, while margins for copper will decline, parent company CME Group announced late Thursday.

CME Group said the changes are the result of a “normal review of market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage.”

For the 100-ounce Comex gold contract, the margin for “initial” speculative positions will rise to $6,751 from $6,075 for speculators. For hedgers and “maintenance” of existing speculative positions, it will rise to $5,001 from $4,500.

In the 5,000-ounce silver contract, the margin for “initial” speculative positions will rise to $11,138 from $10,463. For hedgers and “maintenance” of existing spec positions, the margin climbs to $8,250 from $7,750.

Meanwhile, for the Comex copper contract, the “initial” margin for speculators will fall to $5,738 from $6,413. In the case of hedgers and “maintenance” of speculative positions, the margin declines to $4,250 from $4,750.

CME Group also announced changes in margins for other metals products, including 10-troy-ounce gold futures, miNY gold and silver futures, E-mini copper, gold and silver futures, plus iron-ore and rolled-steel futures. Changes were also announced for several other markets, including some swaps in the certain energy products. The complete announcement is below:

http://www.cmegroup.com/tools-information/lookups/advisories/clearing/files/Chadv11-23.pdf

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com

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