Silver closes higher, logs weekly gains on fears of deadly virus outbreak

Silver closes higher on Friday, shrugging off the US dollar rise against most major currencies, as the white metal was buoyed by global concerns about to the outbreak of the Chinese virus.

China revealed that the deadly coronavirus, as its death toll rose to 26 victims, more than 850 were infected, and the the authorities locked down two major cities were the virus spread heavily, but no sign on succeeding yet.

Multiple confirmed cases also appeared in the US, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Scotland, which threatens a global epidemic.

Otherwise, the dollar index rose by 0.2% to 97.8 points as of 21:02 GMT, after hitting a high of 97.9 and a low of 97.6.

Silver March futures rose by 1.6% to close at $18.113 an ounce, the precious metal gained 0.2% this week, with a day high of $18.145 and a low of $17.74.