U.S. gold fell for a third straight session on Monday but silver prices edged slightly higher. Bullion closing levels were narrowly changed from Friday, as silver and platinum each climbed 0.1 percent while gold and palladium retreated 0.4 and 0.6 percent, respectively.
April gold prices declined $6.30 to settle at $1,419.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold ranged between $1,410.10 and $1,430.00.
"Comex gold futures prices ended modestly lower Monday on some mild profit-taking pressure from recent gains and amid general price weakness in the commodity sector Monday. The gold bulls have faded just a bit from a near-term technical perspective," noted Jim Wyckoff of Kitco News.
"Crude oil and the raw commodity sector in general saw weaker price action Monday, which spilled over into selling interest in the gold market. However, crude prices are still trading above $104.00 a barrel. The inflationary implications of crude oil prices above $100.00 a barrel are still and underlying bullish factor for the precious metals markets."
Silver prices for May delivery advanced 3.9 cents to $37.088 an ounce. Silver prices traded as low as $36.435 and as high as $37.430.
Platinum prices for April delivery added $2.20 to close at $1,747.80 an ounce. Prices ranged from $1,725.20 to $1,750.20.
Palladium prices for June delivery declined $4.70 to $745.70 an ounce. Palladium traded between $736.10 and $751.65.
London fix precious metals declined when comparing their latest to previous PM fixings.
The London gold fix fell $19.00 to $1,417.00 an ounce. Silver dropped $1.060 to $36.620 an ounce. The platinum fix retreated $22.00 to $1,730.00 an ounce. Palladium declined $12.00 to $742.00 an ounce.
Sales of United States Mint bullion coins advanced almost universally on Monday. Even the one-half ounce American Eagle Gold rose 4,000 after having remained at a standstill since March 8. The one-ounce Gold Eagle added 8,000 and the one-tenth ounce climbed 5,000. The single Gold Eagle bullion coin not to show an increase was the one-quarter ounce size.
In other additions, the bullion American Buffalo Gold inched up 1,500 and the American Eagle Silver surged 650,000. The .999 fine silver bullion coin now has a year-to-date tally of nearly 12.5 million.
The latest United States Mint bullion coin sales figures follow:
| U.S. Mint 2011 Bullion Coin Sales | ||
|---|---|---|
| March 2011 | YTD 2011 | |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1 oz) | 58,000 | 261,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/2 oz) | 8,000 | 21,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/4 oz) | 20,000 | 38,000 |
| American Eagle Gold Coin (1/10 oz) | 40,000 | 160,000 |
| American Gold Buffalo Coin (1 oz) | 36,500 | 36,500 |
| American Eagle Silver (1 oz) | 2,767,000 | 12,429,000 |
Yeah we should still all be asking ourselves….. Got Silver?