Precious metals on Monday rebounded, mostly modestly, after plummeting in the previous session.
Gold for August delivery inched up $3.00, or 0.2%, to finish at $1,386.00 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Prices traded from an intraday low of $1,375.10 to a high of $1,388.50.
"Short covering and technical chart consolidation were featured Monday, following Friday’s solid selling pressure," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco.com, in a note.
"Standard & Poors upgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating from negative to stable Monday morning, which did put some initial, modest downside price pressure on gold and boosted the U.S. dollar index to its daily high. The impact of that news was short-lived, however, as gold prices drifted back toward unchanged shortly thereafter," Wyckoff added.
Gold tumbled $32.80 on Friday, taking away earlier-day gains and driving prices down 0.7% last week.
Silver for July delivery advanced 18.2 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $21.93 an ounce. It ranged from a low of $21.33 to a high of $22.03. Silver also sank Friday, off 96.4 cents, to end 2.3% lower last week.
In PGM’s on Monday:
-
July platinum gained $4.30, or 0.3%, to $1,506.90 an ounce, trading between $1,487.30 and $1,509.30.
- Palladium for September delivery surged $8.20, or 1.1%, to $769.40 an ounce, ranging from $753.70 to $771.60.
Both precious metals advanced last week despite Friday losses. Platinum gained 2.8% and palladium added 1.0%.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixing retreated Monday, except for palladium. In comparing the Friday PM to Monday PM London Fix prices:
- Gold dipped $2.75, or 0.2%, to $1,383.25 an ounce,
- Silver lost 79.0 cents, or 3.5%, to $21.81 an ounce,
- Platinum shed $7.00, or 0.5%, to $1,498.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $5.00, or 0.7%, to $759.00 an ounce
Last week, precious metals in London were mixed with gold down 0.6% while others moved higher. Gaining were silver by 0.1%, platinum by 3.2% and palladium by 1.3%.
US Bullion Coin Sales in June
Sales advanced for every type of U.S. Mint bullion coin. In total, gold coins gained 7,500 ounces and silver coins rose 690,000 ounces.
American Silver Eagle bullion coins on Monday notched year-to-date sales of more than 23.2 million. The Silver Eagle annual sales record occurred in 2011 at just under 40 million coins. Then, it took until July 11, 2011 to match the sales that have already occurred this year. Last year, the total had not been reached until September 10, 2012.
The following are daily, June and year-to-date bullion coin totals as provided by the United States Mint.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | June Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 3,500 | 14,000 | 17,500 | 513,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 78,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 15,000 | 30,000 | 45,000 | 405,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 2,500 | 4,500 | 7,000 | 151,500 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25,800 |
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 2,300 | 8,000 | 10,300 | 10,300 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 678,500 | 782,000 | 1,460,500 | 23,229,000 |
Figures above are in the number of coins sold, not in ounces.
