Gold futures rallied Monday, closing above $1,300 an ounce for the first time in nearly five weeks and marking their biggest daily gain in over a year.
Gold for August delivery turned up $43.10, or 3.3%, to $1,336 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the highest since June 19, which was also when gold last closed above the $1,300 an ounce level.
Notably, Monday’s increase was the biggest in both percentage and in dollars since June 29, 2012. Gains were mostly attributed to a weaker U.S. dollar and short covering.
"The gold market ended the U.S. day session sharply higher and hit a four-week high Monday. The yellow metal was boosted by heavy short covering and new technical buying as buy stops were hit when pushed prices well above what was stiff chart resistance at the $1,300.00 level," said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, in a daily note. "The weakening state of the U.S. dollar index has also been bullish for the precious metals just recently."
Gold prices last week ended 1.2% higher for a second consecutive weekly gain.
It was silver that led increases among precious metals with September futures soaring $1.05, or 5.4%, to end at $20.51 an ounce. The white metal traded between $19.50 and $20.58. Silver was alone last week with a loss, down 1.7%.
In PGM futures on Monday:
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Rising for a third straight session, October platinum added $16.80, or 1.2%, to $1,448 an ounce. It ranged from $1,430.50 to $1,456.40.
- Advancing in ten of the last eleven sessions, palladium for September inched up 70 cents to $750.45 an ounce. The metal traded between $745 and $754.
Gains last week for platinum and palladium accumulated to 1.7% and 3.7%, respectively.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings also registered strong daily increases. In contrasting the Friday PM to Monday PM London Fix prices:
- Gold advanced $31.25, or 2.4%, to $1,327 an ounce,
- Silver leapt 53 cents, or 2.7%, to $19.95 an ounce,
- Platinum added $20, or 1.4%, to $1,442 an ounce, and
- Palladium rose $7, or 0.9%, to $750 an ounce
Last week, silver fell 1.2% but other metals drove higher with pick-ups of 1.3% for gold, 1.4% for platinum and 3.8% for palladium.
US Bullion Coin Sales in July
U.S. Mint bullion sales climbed for gold coins by 4,000 ounces and shot up 929,000 ounces for silver coins. The later tally is already atop last week’s very robust showing of 898,500 ounces.
Today, year-to-date sales of American Silver Eagle bullion coins rallied well above the 28 million mark. With Silver Eagles at 28,500,000 in less than 7 months, only four other years since the coins debuted in 1986 have a higher total, but that is counting sales through all 12 of their months. When the Silver Eagle annual sales record happened in 2011 at 39,868,500, it took until August 29, 2011 for sales to top where they stand now.
The following table offers daily, July and year-to-date bullion coin totals as published by the U.S. Mint on its website.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / Week-To-Date Sales | Last Week | July Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 4,000 | 6,500 | 30,500 | 575,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 47,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 92,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 440,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 13,500 | 175,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,100 | 2,900 | 29,900 |
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 800 | 2,400 | 6,600 | 20,800 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,200 | 7,500 | 17,400 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 925,000 | 875,000 | 3,456,500 | 28,500,000 |
Figures above are in the number of coins sold, not in ounces.
