Silver advances as dollar retreats before the weekend

Silver futures firmed above $17 for the second session in a row, as the dollar index lost ground following earlier data from the US, the world's largest economy. 

As of 07:15 GMT, silver futures due on September 15 rose 0.07% to $17.045 an ounce from the opening of $17.035, while the dollar index shed 0.17% to 93.47 from the opening of 93.62. 

Earlier from the US, University of Michigan released its preliminary reading for the consumer sentiment survey, which came at 97.6 in August, compared to July's 93.4, and comfortably beating expectations of 94.0. 

The current economic conditions index in the same survey fell to 111.0 from 113.4, while the economic outlook index rose to 89.0 from 80.5 last month. 

Inflation outlook for one year steadied at 2.6%, the same as July, while five-year inflation outlook fell to 2.5% from 2.6%, and finally, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan spoke at the Dallas County Community College, where he expressed his belief GDP growth will be above 2% this year. 

Earlier this week, the Fed released the minutes of the July 25-26 meeting, at which policymakers voted to maintain interest rates at between 1.0% and 1.25%, and asserting the normalizing plans of the bank's massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet despite recent concerns about softening inflation. 

US president Donald Trump dissolved two business and manufacturing advisory councils earlier this week after a wave of CEOs quit them in protest of Trump's failure to quickly condemn White supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.  

These tensions forced back to the surface concerns about Trump's agenda, including his promises to cut taxes and regulations and expand infrastructure spending, and to repeal and replace the current healthcare system known as Obamacare. 

Consequently, investors shifted liquidity to safe havens such as silver, which hit the highest sine June 14 earlier this week before relinquishing its gains and heading for a weekly loss.