Silver, gold near lifetime highs in Asia

Silver and gold were within sight of historic highs on Friday and could resume an uptrend as the US dollar held near three-year lows against a basket of currencies on hopes US monetary policy would stay ultra-loose, keeping inflationary price pressures high.
A fresh batch of US economic data in the form of rising claims for jobless benefits failed to rescue the dollar, which had dropped to its weakest level since July 2008 against other currencies before recovering slightly. Silver barely moved, standing at 48.35 an ounce by 0625 GMT, after having rallied to a record at $49.51 an ounce on Thursday. Gold eased 75 cents to $1,534.20 an ounce after hitting a lifetime high around $1,538 an ounce in the previous session.