Silver rises above $17 ahead of the weekend

Silver futures rose for the first time in four sessions even as the dollar index gained ground, following a basket of data from the US, the world's largest economy, while Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and Federal Reserve Governor Randal Quarles spoke earlier today. 

As of 06:24 GMT, silver futures due on March 15 rose 0.38% to $17.025 an ounce from the opening of $16.960, while the dollar index rose 0.14% to 90.63 from the opening of 90.50. 

The University of Michigan released its Consumer Sentiment survey for January, showing a dip to 94.4 from December's 95.9, missing expectations of 97.0. 

The economic conditions gauge in the same survey fell as well to 109.2 from 113.8 in December, while economic expectations rose to 84.8 from 84.3. One-year inflation outlook rose to 2.8% from 2.7%, while five-year outlook rose to 2.5% from 2.4%. 

Now investors look forward to a voting session in the Senate on a bill to temporarily fund the government by the Republican Party to avoid a shutdown, after the House of Representatives passed it by a 230-197 margin.  

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnel said on Thursday that there should be emergency plans in case a government shutdown happens, as Republicans need 60 votes in the Senate to pass the budget bill, while only having 51 members. 

Friday is the deadline of the latest budget deal between Republicans and Democrats, and in case the Senate failed to pass the bill, the government will be shut down temporarily.