Silver closes over 1% higher

Silver futures closed higher on Thursday, as the US dollar fell against most majors after the release of weak US data and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's statements.

Powell said today that the Fed wants to make sure there are strong signs on the US economic recovery before changing its current monetary policy, which includes near zero interest rates and asset purchases.

Data showed that the US unemployment claims rose to 744K during the past week, worse than forecasts of 684K. 

The International Monetary Fund raised its projections for the US economy to grow by 6.4% in 2021 based on the Federal Reserve's forecasts.

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield fell to 1.641% today.

The dollar index fell against a basket of currencies by 0.4% to 92.07 points as of 21:26 GMT, after it hit a high of 92.4 points and a low of 92.0 points.

Silver May futures rose 1.3%, and closed at $25.59 an ounce.