Silver heads for first weekly profit in four

Silver futures rose nearly one percent in American trade away from July 14 lows even as the dollar index powered up for a second session, following an array of data from the US, the world's largest economy.

As of 08:11 GMT, silver futures due on March 15 rose 0.79% to $16.060 an ounce from the opening of $15.934, while the dollar index rose 0.51% to 93.96 from the opening of 93.49. 

Earlier US data showed the Empire State Manufacturing Index dipped slightly to 18.0 in December from 19.4, missing expectations of 18.8. 

US industrial production slowed down to 0.2% in November from 1.2% in October, revised from 0.9%, while analysts expected a 0.3% rise. The Capacity Utilization Rate rose to 77.1% from 77.0% in October, missing expectations of 77.2%. 

Earlier this week, the Federal Reserve voted to increase interest rates by 25 basis points for the third time this year, while updating their three-year forecasts for growth, inflation, unemployment, and interest rates.