Silver plunges three percent at the open

Silver futures fell for the sixth straight session to the lowest since August 28, swinging farther away from the highest since April 19, as the dollar index gained modest ground today, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest economy.

As of 06:50 GMT, silver futures due on December 15 plummeted 2.92% to $17.185 an ounce from the opening of $17.701, while the dollar index rose 0.05% to 91.92 from the opening of 91.87. 

Earlier US data showed the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index down to 64 in September from 68, missing expectations of 67. 

Markets look forward to policy decisions by Federal Open Market Committee members in this week's periodic meeting, at which policymakers are expected to unveil their three-year forecasts for inflation, growth, unemployment, and interest rates. 

Fed policymakers are expected to start the process of trimming down the Federal Reserve's $4.2 trillion holdings of treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, while maintaining overnight interest rates at between 1% and 1.25%. 

Silver prices swooned to four-week lows as chances of a Fed rate hike for a third time this year pass 50% for the first time since July, hitting 50.9% in financial betting markets, hurting the appeal of the safe haven. 

Otherwise, European Central Bank member Hanson said in earlier remarks that monetary policy should be tightened gradually, with the next step for the ECB to be a reformulation of the monetary policy and not just to change the duration or the size of the monetary easing.  

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney made a speech at the Central Banking Lecture hosted by the International Monetary Fund, in Washington DC, where he asserted again that policy tightening could be required in the next few months, and noting that the monetary policy could be altered on par with the possibilities of increasing interest rates back to their normal levels, noting that Brexit is expected to leave inflationary side effects. 

On another note, US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin announced last week that tax reform plans will be detailed on September 25, bolstering risk appetite and shifting liquidity away from safe havens and toward the stock market.