Silver plumbs four-week trough. dollar declines for first session in four

Silver futures dipped to December 28 lows in Asian trade even as the dollar index stepped off January 4 highs for another session, following earlier data from China, the world's largest metals consumer, while the US market closes down for the Martin Luther King holiday. 

As of 05:19 GMT, silver futures due in March shed 0.45% to $15.33 an ounce to four-week lows, while the dollar index shed 0.05% to 96.29. 

From China, the economy grew just 6.4% y/y, the lowest such rate since 2009, and down from 6.5% in the previous quarter. 

Retail sales rose 8.2% in December, up from 8.1% in November, while industrial output rose 5.7%, accelerating from 5.4%, as the unemployment rate rose to 4.9% from 4.8%. 

Last week, China announced plans to increase spending by cutting taxes while doubling efforts to support growth and provide liquidity to the market.