Silver inches down even as dollar touches late-2014 lows

Silver futures tilted lower away from October 16 highs for the third consecutive session, even as the dollar index slipped to 37-month lows, following earlier data from China, the world's largest metals consumer, and the US, the world's largest economy. 

As of 06:34 GMT, silver futures due on March 15 fell 0.18% to $16.96 an ounce from the opening of $16.99, while the dollar index shed 0.32% to 90.62 from the opening of 90.90. 

Earlier data from China showed the seasonally-adjusted reading for fourth-quarter GDP growth at 1.6%, down from 1.8% in the third quarter, and missing expectations of 1.7%. 

On a yearly basis, China's GDP growth steadied at 6.8% in the fourth quarter, besting forecasts of 6.7%, while retail sales slowed  down to 9.4% in December, as industrial output accelerated to 6.2% from 6.1%. 

Earlier US data showed building permits steadied at an annualized 1.30 million units in December, same as November, and beating expectations of 1.29 million. 

US housing starts fell to an annualized 1.19 million units in December from 1.30 million in November, missing projections of 1.28 million units. 

US unemployment claims fell to 220 thousand in the week ending January 13, the lowest since March 1973, down from the previous reading's 261K, beating expectations of 250K. 

The Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook Survey, also called the Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index, dipped in January to 22.2 from 26.2 in December, missing forecasts of 24.9. 

Last month, President Donald Trump singed into law the $1.5 trillion tax reform bill, which cuts the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, in turn underpinning Wall Street to successive record highs and hurting safe havens such as silver.