There was a strong underlying tone in silver given that it faced important headwinds from a strong dollar and rising bond yields, but a sharp retreat in gold dragged prices from peak levels.
Silver prices maintained a strong tone in Asian trading On Thursday with a push higher in gold prices helping silver to make a brief challenge on the $19.00 per ounce area early in the European session.
San Francisco Fed President Williams stated that it still made sense to raise interest rates gradually and markets leaned back towards expecting a Fed rate increase in December.
More importantly from a longer-term perspective, there was speculation that the Fed might have to tighten at a faster than expected pace in 2017 if there is a more aggressive fiscal policy and rising inflation.
The dollar maintained a strong tone, especially against the yen, with highs close to the 107.00 level, while the Euro tested support below 1.0900 and commodity currencies were on the defensive.
In this context, the overall resilience of silver prices remained impressive given the strong dollar.
US data releases had little impact on silver prices with jobless claims declining to 254,000 in the latest week from 265,000 previously, which maintained confidence in the labour market.
The firm dollar tended to undermine Silver support, especially as US yields continued to increase with the 10-year yield moving to highs above the 2.10% level for the first time since mid-January.
Source: Economic Calendar
