Bullion & Business Weekend Report – June 27

Precious metals split this week and experienced narrow movements. Gold appeared slightly more attractive to investors as the U.S. dollar showed weakness. The yellow metal in London ended higher for the first week in four while silver marked its first gain in three. Platinum, however, retreated for week three.

In other markets, crude-oil fell below $70 to register a second week of losses while U.S. stocks finished mixed. Major European indexes moved lower.

In London for the week, gold modestly climbed 0.7 percent, silver inched 0.2 percent higher, and platinum slid 0.7 percent. Precious metal figures follow:

Silver closed Friday to $14.26 an ounce, gaining 3 cents this week.

Gold was fixed at $942.00 an ounce, rising $6.75 on the week.

Platinum fell to $1,203.00 an ounce, declining $9.00 for the week.

"The precious metals complex has been trading modestly higher as the dollar lost ground after the Fed announced it would keep rates low," James Moore, a precious metals analyst at TheBullionDesk.com, was quoted on MarketWatch.

"But given the scale of longs already in place and the slow pace of physical demand, gold is still vulnerable to profit taking short-term and may look to consolidate in the $910 to $950 area before pushing towards $1000 again," he added.

Gold, considered a hedge during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, tends to follow oil and move opposite to the U.S. dollar. A rising greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities, like bullion, more expensive for holders of other world currencies.

To follow are silver, gold and platinum performance charts, precious metal articles, oil news and week-ending world stock summaries.

London Fix Charts: Silver, Gold and Platinum
(June 19-26)

The London Fix is one of the most used bullion quotes around the world. The London AM fix for gold and platinum begins at 10:30am GMT (5:30am in New York), and the PM fix begins at 3pm GMT (10am in New York). The London Fix for silver begins each business day at 12pm GMT (7am in New York).

London Fix figures: percent and dollar changes*

Bullion articles of interest

In related news, interesting or quick-read articles this week:

• Gold tops $940, marking first weekly gain in four – MarketWatch
  Gold futures rose Friday, marking their first weekly gain in four as a weaker U.S. dollar and record-low interest rates boosted the metal’s investment appeal…

• U.S. Markets Wrap: Stocks Fall on Higher Savings; Dollar Drops – Bloomberg
  U.S. stocks fell, giving the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index the first two-week decline since March, after the highest American savings rate in 15 years spurred concern that consumer spending will slow and oil retreated. The dollar dropped after China’s central bank reiterated a call for a worldwide currency…

• Saver Nation – Jon Nadler, Kitco
  The trading week drew closer to a positive finish for gold prices on Friday, for the first time in two fortnights. The US dollar encountered difficulties with maintaining the 80 level on the index, while oil prices rose a tad following fresh reports of Nigerian pipeline-oriented violence…

• US Mint Sales: 2009 Proof Sets Pass 577K – CoinNews
  Collector action was mostly lackadaisical when it came to purchasing coins last week, the latest US Mint sales figures reveal. Despite that, a few milestones were achieved as we so often like to point out in our weekly heading. 2009 Proof Sets again retreated from their launch week highs…

• First Spouse Coin Sales Lean Lower… – First Spouse Coins
  First Spouse Coin Sales were mixed last week, but mostly leaned lower following the prior week where every coin had declined in performance. In comparing US Mint figures from the week prior and week-over-week percent increases, two of eight coins inched higher, two were unchanged and four slipped…

• US Mint Silver Coin Sales Mixed – Silver Coins Today
  While the latest figures for US Mint collector silver coins and sets sales show a mixture of ups and downs, the overall picture appears less than exciting. The "winner" in the week-over-week comparison for both a unit and percentage increase was the…

• US Mint Bullion Eagle Sales Ease… – Coin Sales Figures
  Sales of American Eagle Silver and Gold bullion coins stepped back last week compared to the week prior, US Mint sales figures reveal. During the second week of June, silver and gold eagles surged 8.1 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively. Last week sales were strong, but…

Reports on world business, oil prices and stocks

Oil ended lower Friday and marked a second week of declines as "worries about oil demand pressuring prices," writes Moming Zhou and Chris Oliver of MarketWatch.

New York crude-oil for August delivery fell $1.07, or 1.5 percent to $69.16 a barrel. The contract declined 1.2 percent this week.

In near amazement, prices at the pump declined for several days. The national average for unleaded gasoline is $2.648 a gallon, according to AAA. That is a penny less than Friday, and 4.4 cents lower than a week ago. The price is still 19.9 cents higher than a month back, however.

U.S. stocks ended mixed for the week with the Dow and S&P lower by 1.19 percent and 0.25 percent, respectively, and marking a second weekly of declines. The Nasdaq rose 0.59 percent.

Friday closing figures for the three major US indexes follow:

• The Dow fell 34.01 points to close at 8,438.39.

• The S&P 500 declined 1.36 points, closing to 918.90.

• The NASDAQ rose 8.68 points to finish at 1,838.22.

And in other world markets:

• The German DAX fell 24.09 points to close at 4,776.47.

• The Paris CAC 40 lost 33.37 points to close at 3,129.73.

• And the London FTSE 100 declined 11.56 points to close at 4,241.01.

Conway Gittens reports on American savings, leading business news and world stock and how they performed for the week in this Reuters business video summary.

Bullion and finance related collector tools

• US Mint Coin Prices
• Live Bullion Spots
• Silver Coins & Values
• Currency Converter
• United States Inflation Calculator