Gold and silver futures on Tuesday bounced from their prior-session losses with declines in stocks supporting safe-havens.
Gold for April delivery gained $12.50, or 1%, to settle at $1,222.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"If there is another big sell-off in equity markets, then levels around $1,260 are very achievable because you’d see defensive investors coming forward," Reuters quoted ETF Securities analyst Martin Arnold. "But in an environment where volatility remains elevated and investors are starting to dip back into equity markets, current levels are a pretty decent value for gold," Arnold added
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,207.60 to a high of $1,226.80. In the previous session, they declined $20.70 or 1.7%.
Silver for March delivery added 5.6 cents, or 0.4%, to close at $15.24 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.17 to $15.32. They fell on Monday by 1.2%.
In PGM futures on Tuesday:
-
April platinum settled up $15.70, or 1.7%, to $943.50 an ounce, trading between $926.30 and $946.70.
- Palladium for March delivery edged up $1.40, or 0.3%, to $500.05 an ounce, ranging from $494.25 to $502.45.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices also advanced. In comparing their levels from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold rose $10.35, or 0.9%, to $1,221.35 an ounce.
- Silver rose 21 cents, or 1.4%, to $15.21 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales rose by 3,500 ounces in gold coins and 249,000 ounces in silver coins.
In silver sales, American Silver Eagles advanced another 224,000 to 985,000 for the week so far. The U.S. Mint limited Silver Eagle sales this week to 1,073,500 coins, which leaves 88,500 until more become available next week.
Sales of 2016 Shawnee National Forest Five Ounce Silver Coins rose by 5,000 coins for a new total of 102,500 coins. It is the highest total since the 2011 Olympic National Park coin logged sales of 104,900 coins.
Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 500 | 17,500 | 5,000 | 89,000 | 57,500 | 146,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 36,000 | 10,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 145,000 | 75,000 | 220,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,500 | 6,500 | 2,500 | 34,000 | 15,000 | 49,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 224,000 | 926,500 | 985,000 | 5,954,500 | 3,957,000 | 9,911,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 5,000 | 0 | 27,500 | N/A | 102,500 | 102,500 |
This article was updated to include the latest available U.S. Mint bullion sales figures.
Mike, is 97,500 the correct quantity for the 5 oz Shawnee silver coin? seems like a lot above normal sales for the bullion version. If so, the collector’s version should do well when it is released on the 25th.
Joe C. –
The U.S. Mint announced earlier this year that they plan on top mintages of 150,000 of each of the 5-oz silver ATB coins with the estimated breakdown being up to about 120,000 bullion versions & about 30,000 “P” Mint mark versions if I remember the numbers from their press release right. Based on demand of course. I need to find that press release to make sure, but I was surprised at the much higher mintages than last year!
-NumisDudeTX
CoinNews Readers – FYI –
I posted on yesterday’s precious metals report article here on this blog website the U.S. Mint’s official list of the only 13 worldwide silver, gold & platinum bullion version coin “Authorized Purchasers” officially registered with the Mint who sell those coins & the only ones who can purchase them directly from the U.S. Mint. There are only 9 coin dealers in the USA, one in Japan, one in Luxembourg (know as Europe’s great tax haven ) & two in Germany on the official list.
Interesting information!
Happy collecting all !
-NumisDudeTX
Mike Unser – When you updated this article with the latest sales figures later in the day, you inadvertently stated that the allocation of silver American Eagle bullion version coins are limited to 123,500 coins for the week which is wrong. The allocation this week is the 73,500 coins left unsold from last week’s allocation plus the 1 million coins added this week for a total of 1,073,500 coins for this week’s allocation available to be purchased by the U.S. Mint’s 13 official registered worldwide network of bullion version coin “Authorized Purchasers.” I posted the official list from the Mint… Read more »
Seth
Thanks for your comments. I see the 5 oz coin is up to 102,500 this morning.