A stronger U.S. dollar pressured commodities. Precious metals were mixed Friday and on a weekly basis, with gold slightly lower for both and only platinum higher than a week ago.
On Friday, gold for April delivery dipped $4.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,666.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. It logged only modest daily changes this week but three down days outweighed the two up for an overall 0.2% weekly loss. Gold has slipped 0.5% this year and is the single precious metal in the red for 2013.
Price expectations for next week are again mixed, based on weekly gold surveys.
"In the Kitco News Gold Survey, out of 33 participants, 24 responded this week. Of those 24 participants, 12 see prices up, while four see prices down, and eight see prices moving sideways," reports Kitco.
"Those who see higher prices said the underlying fundamentals are still supporting gold… Many participants who said neutral or sideways said they see no reason for gold to break out of its current trading range…"
Bloomberg’s gold survey of analysts and traders was split evenly with 11 bullish and 11 bearish.
Silver, Platinum and Palladium Futures
In other New York bullion futures on Friday and for the week:
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Silver for March delivery inched up 3.8 cents, or 0.1%, to $31.441 an ounce. In percentage, silver fell further than other metals with its 1.6% weekly decline.
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April Platinum declined $7.60, or 0.4%, to $1,714.70 an ounce. On Wednesday, platinum had extended a winning streak to four sessions and reached a 16-month high. It slid during the last two days but still logged a solid weekly increase of 1.6%.
- Sister metal palladium fell 0.7% this week. On Friday, palladium for March delivery gained $1.05, or 0.1%, to $751.50 an ounce.
In 2013 so far, silver has advanced 4.0%, palladium has jumped 6.8% and platinum has surged 11.2%.
London Precious Metals
London precious metals split in direction Friday. Ironically, each metal moved opposite Friday to how they ended up tracking for the entire week. When comparing the Thursday PM to Friday PM Fix prices:
- Gold gained a modest 25.0 cents to $1,668.25 an ounce,
- Silver shed 23.0 cents, or 0.7%, to $31.52 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $22.00, or 1.3, to $1,714.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium declined $18.50, or 2.4%, to $746.00 an ounce
For the week, advancing were silver at 0.3%, platinum at 1.6% and palladium at 0.1%. Gold dipped less than 0.1%, or 75 cents, from a week ago.
US Bullion Coins
Sales softened for American Eagle silver bullion coins, which are under U.S. Mint rationing after unprecedented demand in January. American Eagle gold bullion coins, however, improved sharply from a week ago. In American Eagle comparisons:
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22-karat American Gold Eagles advanced 34,500 ounces this week compared to 18,000 ounces from a week ago. All four sizes gained.
- 99.9% pure American Silver Eagles added 979,000 versus the prior week’s 1,491,000.
Read about January coin sales for a breakdown of last month bullion performances.
The following two tables offer all U.S. Mint bullion sales for the day, the week and year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday Sales | Last Week | Weekly Sales | Feb Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 1,500 | 17,500 | 31,000 | 31,000 | 155,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 18,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 28,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 130,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 1,000 | 5,500 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 73,500 |
| American Eagle Silver Coin | 206,000 | 1,491,000 | 979,500 | 979,500 | 8,477,500 |
| America the Beautiful 5 Oz. Silver Bullion Coin Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday Sales | Last Week | Weekly Sales | Feb Sales | All-Time Sales | |
| 2012 El Yunque National Forest 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 400 | 400 | 22,300 |
| 2012 Chaco Culture National Historical Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 21,000 |
| 2012 Acadia National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25,400 |
| 2012 Hawai’i Volcanoes 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2012 Denali National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2011 Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 9,300 | 0 | 0 | 104,900 |
| 2011 Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 200 | 2,300 | 200 | 200 | 43,700 |
| 2011 Chickasaw Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins* | 200 | 4,260 | -2,060 | -2,060 | 33,600 |
| TOTAL | 400 | 15,860 | -460 | -460 | 290,900 |
*The Chickasaw total was adjusted down by -2,260 on Tuesday. Last week on Thursday its sales had trimmed by 40. Such negative adjustments are very atypical in U.S. Mint reported bullion coin sales.
All bullion figures above are in the number of coins sold. Calculate total ounces by using the bullion coin’s weight.
