Silver outshines gold and closes higher

Silver prices rose at the end of trading today despite US dollar slightly rising against most of the major currencies, to outshine the gold, which has closed on stability.

The markets are anticipating the semi-annual testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell before the US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, followed by another testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

In a related context, the US Central Bank intends to disclose the minutes of its last month meeting and resulted in keeping the interest rates in the range between 2.25% and 2.50% unchanged.

The markets are looking for signs from Powell to gauge the direction of the central bank's monetary policy in the coming period and the extent to which the rate will shift to zero.

On the other hand, by 18:34 GMT, the dollar index (against most major currencies) rose by 0.1% to 97.5 points, reaching a high of 97.5 points and a low of 97.3 points.

At the close of the session, silver futures (September delivery) rose by 0.6% (9.7 cents) to $15,147 per ounce, the white metal recorded a high of $15.155 and a low of $14.965.