Silver plumbs three-week trough as dollar scales two-week high

Silver futures fell to December 28 lows in American trade as the dollar index scaled January 4 highs, following earlier data from the US, the world's largest economy, and on optimism about trade talks between Washington and Beijing. 

As of 06:14 GMT, silver futures due in March fell 0.88% to $15.40 an ounce, marking three-week lows, while the dollar index rose 0.33% to 96.38, marking two-week highs. 

Earlier US data showed industrial production rose 0.3% in December, slowing down from 0.4% while edging estimates of 0.2%. 

The capacity utilization rate rose to 78.7% from 78.6%, while analysts expected no change. 

The University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment survey, showing a steep drop to 90.7 in January from 98.3 in December, matching expectations. 

Optimism is growing towards US-China trade negotiations, after reports US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is discussing potential plans to lift some or all of the newly-imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. 

Muchin is allegedly suggesting a back-down from imposing new tariffs scheduled for January 30 according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which was then disputed by the Treasury Department's spokesman. 

Other reports indicated China is making suggestions to shave to the US-China trade imbalance, including a buying spree for the next six years of US products to over a trillion dollars, after China's trade surplus with America reached $323 billion last year.