Silver Price News: Silver Dips on Stronger Dollar

Silver prices fell on Friday, giving up Thursday’s gains, and moving in line with gold as a stronger US dollar put downward pressure on the precious metals complex.

Prices fell as low as $31.95 an ounce, down over 1% from around $32.74 an ounce in late trades on Thursday.

The US dollar made gains against other major currencies on Friday, which exerted downward pressure on dollar-denominated silver prices due to their inverse correlation.

Easing trade tensions weigh on safe havens

Both gold and silver saw overall losses through the week as tensions eased over the global trading environment after the US and China agreed to reduce tariffs on each other’s imports. This had the effect of increasing interest in higher-risk financial assets while denting investor interest in safe havens. As ever, the influence of economic conditions on silver is less clear than gold, due to its dual role as both a precious and an industrial metal.

Market mulls US ban on Chinese computer chips

Serving to highlight that point, silver prices appeared to come under pressure from news reports stating that US President Donald Trump’s administration plans to add several Chinese semiconductor companies to its export blacklist. If borne out, such a move could curb industrial demand for silver from the electronics industry, although it would depend on how many companies were affected and how this impacted overall US imports of Chinese semiconductors.

Technical analysis

On the technical charts, silver finds itself bumping up against descending oblique major resistance, currently at $33.05 an ounce, and this forms a channel in place since the highs of over $34.50 an ounce in late March. Meanwhile, any further losses could encounter rising oblique minor support at $31.60 an ounce.