Gold, platinum and palladium rose modestly Monday. Silver declined slightly, though U.S. Mint American Silver Eagle bullion coins notably topped 19 million in sales for the year.
Gold for June delivery added $3.80, or 0.3%, to finish at $1,468.00 an ounce on the Comex in New York. The gain was 40 cents more than gold’s decline on Friday when it ended the week for an overall loss of $10.60, or 0.7%.
Gold prices on Monday traded from an intraday low of $1,463.80 to a high of $1,478.40. Solid physical demand was seen as supportive.
"The market found support from an improving near-term technical posture," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc., said in the daily PM Kitco Metals Roundup. "Recent good demand for physical gold continues to underpin the market."
Many analysts and traders on Friday had voiced some expectations for gold prices to decline this week. Gold ETF’s are being watched closely.
"We need to see ETF redemptions slow down in order for the next leg higher," Bloomberg quoted Xiang Nan, an analyst at Citics Futures Co., a unit of China’s biggest listed brokerage.
In other New York futures Monday:
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Silver for July delivery slipped 5.9 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $23.955 an ounce. Prices ranged from $23.82 to $24.42. Silver advanced 18.4 cents on Friday and 1% last week.
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July platinum added $6.50, or 0.4%, to $1,507.70 an ounce, trading between $1,491.80 and $1,509.00. Platinum gained 1.7% last week.
- Palladium for June delivery advanced $3.80, or 0.6%, to $697.10 an ounce, ranging from $690.15 to $697.50. Like platinum, palladium rose 1.7% last week.
London Fix Precious Metals
London markets were closed Monday for a banking holiday. Friday fixings were:
- Gold at $1,469.25 an ounce,
- Silver at $24.25 an ounce,
- Platinum at $1,501.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium at $694.00 an ounce
Last week, increasing were silver at 1%, platinum at 1.2% and palladium at 1.9%. Gold fell 0.2%.
US Bullion Coin Sales in May
Sales of the U.S. Mint’s most popular bullion products climbed Monday. One-ounce America Gold Eagle bullion coins rose by 3,000 ounces and one-ounce American Silver Eagle bullion coins advanced 719,500.
The latest Silver Eagle gains place year-to-date sales above 19 million. In 2011 when annual sales hit a record of nearly 40 million coins, it took until June 7 to top 19 million in sales. Last year, Silver Eagle bullion coins did not reach the 19 million mark until July 25
The following are daily, May and year-to-date bullion coin totals as published by the United States Mint.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date | May Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 3,000 | 38,000 | 3,000 | 13,000 | 447,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 0 | 72,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins* | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 0 | 300,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 14,500 | 0 | 1,500 | 133,500 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 719,500 | 845,000 | 719,500 | 719,500 | 19,029,500 |
*The U.S. Mint has temporarily suspended sales of its smallest American Gold Eagle until inventories are replenished. The Mint ran out of them on April 22.
