Mumbai, Oct. 10 -- Silver exchange traded funds or ETFs opened Thursday with a record 10-12% premium to spot prices, underscoring a scramble for the metal as festive buying, industrial use, and investor FOMO (fear of missing out) drove up demand against tight supplies.

"Sales by multi-asset schemes of mutual funds later caused the premiums to narrow by the day end," said Satish Dondapati, fund manager at Kotak Mahindra AMC, adding that when there is a supply shortage, silver ETFs typically trade at a 0.5-1% premium to spot prices.

The premiums, though, remained well above normal for the rest of the day. Notably, multi-asset schemes of mutual funds hold around 20% of their assets in gold and silver.

Fund managers said the elevated premi...