SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 28, 2008 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Silver futures continued on a path Thursday that has marked record highs in each of the last seven sessions, with the March contract rising as much as 3.3% in intraday trading to a record high of $19.845 an ounce.

March silver was last up 57 cents at $19.78 an ounce. At the intraday high, the contract was up 13% since the Feb. 19 close, and 33% since the end of 2007.

April and May silver contracts also reached record highs, at $19.87 and $19.965, respectively, in intraday trading.

The iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV) was last up 2.5% at $196.17, and hit an all-time high of $196.85 earlier in the session.

RBC (NYSE:RY) Capital Markets analyst Stephen Walker raised his silver price forecast to $20 an ounce and said he expects the precious metal to track along with gold.

'Our fundamental view on silver remains bullish for the next few years, until we begin to worry about new mine supply from primary silver mines, as well as from byproduct silver from other new gold (TSX:NGD') and base metals mines,' he wrote in a note to clients Wednesday.

Shares of silver miners have been soaring along with the rising silver futures.

U.S.-listed shares of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ:PAAS) (TSX:PAA') (TSX:PAA) hit an all-time high of $41.72 Thursday before dropping to $40.95, 4 cents below Wednesday's closing price.

U.S.-listed stock of Lima, Peru-based Compania Minas Buenaventura SA, where workers are waging a 72-hour strike that is affecting output, also hit a record high, of $77.82. The stock was trading up $2.80 at $77.33.

Vancouver-based Silver Wheaton Corp. (TSX:SLW''B) (TSX:SLW''A) (NYSE:SLW) (TSX:SLW') (TSX:SLW) shares rose 9 cents to $17.50.

Brigid Gaffikin
bg/tk1
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