Shanghai silver front-month contract widened losses to 4.00%, trading at 14,141.00 yuan/kg.

Helaba analysts said an escalation in the Arabian Gulf and higher energy prices are unlikely to reassure central bankers ahead of the ECB policy decision later today. They see no clear sign of an imminent rate hike and are waiting for market signals to judge whether September will deliver tightening; money markets currently price a 21 bps ECB hike in September. Helaba expects the ECB’s statement wording — that the Governing Council will not pre-commit to a specific rate path — to remain materially unchanged and the bank to continue deciding on a meeting-by-meeting basis.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs ran a fisheries resource survey in waters east of Taiwan from July 17-23 using research vessel Blue Ocean 201 operated by the East China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences. The area is species-rich and an important spawning ground for tuna and other commercial species. Survey teams collected fish, cephalopod and crustacean specimens, environmental DNA samples, and acquired fisheries acoustic and hydro‑meteorological baseline data. Authorities said the data will inform resource conservation and sustainable marine fisheries management for the area.