Silver Prices Rise as Precious-Metal Rally Intensifies

New York (June 6)  Silver prices rose on Tuesday, as prevailing dollar weakness continued to underpin precious metals.

Silver for July settlement was trading at $17.566 a troy ounce at 7:44 a.m. ET, having gained 7 cents, or 0.5%, from the previous session’s close. The futures contract traded within a narrow range of $17.51 and $17.71 through the overnight session.

Gold prices advanced, with the August futures contract gaining $12.30, or 1%, to $1,295.00 a troy ounce.

Gold’s premium over silver has declined over the past four weeks, reflecting the latter’s outsized percentage gains. By the end of Monday’s session, one ounce of gold was worth 72.91 ounces of silver. That represents a decline of 3.5% over the past 30 days. Still, both metals are hovering at six-week highs.

The U.S. dollar continued to plumb eight-month lows on Thursday, providing a strong catalyst for precious metals. The dollar index, an exchange-weighted average of the greenback against a basket of six rivals, fell 0.2% to 96.61.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its trend-setting interest rate at 1.5% on Tuesday, as officials kept monetary policy highly accommodative in support of economic growth. Later this week, the European Central Bank (ECB) will deliver its latest policy verdict.

In economic data, Eurozone retail sales rose ___ in April, following a 0.3% increase the previous month, the European Commission’s statistical agency said. That translated into a year-over-year gain of __.

There are no other major economic news events scheduled in the North American session. Action picks up on Wednesday with a spate of global data releases, including Australian and euro area gross domestic product (GDP).

Source: EconomicCalendar