Silver plumbs three-week trough as dollar inches up

Silver futures bounced off the highest since October 16 to the lowest since December 28, as the dollar index rebounded from early-2015 lows following a basket of data from the US, the world's largest economy.  

As of 06:19 GMT, silver futures due on March 15 fell 0.32% to $17.180 an ounce from the opening of $17.235, while the dollar index rose 0.11% to 90.58 from the opening of 90.48. 

Earlier US data showed the Empire State Manufacturing Index dipped to 17.7 in January from 18, missing expectations of 18.5. 

President Donald Trump commented on the chances of closing the government in the US with no firm answer, noting that in case no deal was reached between the Democrats and the Republicans, the government would be shut from January 19. 

Markets are still pricing in rate hike chances by the European Central Bank and its Japanese counterpart in 2018, which would close some of the gap between them and the Federal Reserve and weigh on the dollar. 

Otherwise, White House economic adviser Gary Kohen said recently that the stock market is not too high right now, and the tax cuts have begun to have an impact on the economy, with wages rising and optimism improving. 

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%, while also signing a stopgap government spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, in turn underpinning Wall Street to successive record highs.