Silver closes higher as dollar stabilizes

Silver prices rose during today's trading as the US dollar stabilized against most of the major currencies, which reduced pressures on precious metals.

Commodity and metal markets received support earlier in the day, as China's GDP growth reached 6.3% in the first quarter and retail sales rose by  8.7%.

Optimism over trade negotiations between the world's two largest economies remains a dominant feature of markets even in the face of growing trade tensions between the United States and the European Union.

Otherwise, markets await a public holiday in a number of international marketplaces, notably the United States, the eurozone and the United Kingdom, to celebrate the "Good Friday" ahead of the Easter holiday.

The dollar index (against a number of major currencies) stabilized by 97.04 points at 18:28 GMT, reaching a high of 97.1 points and a low of 96.8 points.

At the close of the session, silver futures (May delivery) rose by 0.2% to $14.939 an ounce. The metal hit a day high of $15.055 and a low of $14.88.