Gold climbed for a second straight session Thursday with a weaker U.S. dollar lending support as rallying U.S. equities curbed safe-haven demand.
Gold for April delivery inched up 30 cents to end at $1,257.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices ranged from a low of $1,252.50 to a high of $1,267.50.
"Even when stocks have rallied over the past few trading sessions, we have noticed that gold has not really dropped that much, telling us that investors in the precious metals space may well believe that there is more turbulence ahead," Reuters quoted Edward Meir, an analyst at INTL FCStone.
"In addition, we have to suspect that a wave of currency declines sweeping a number of emerging market economies, ranging from Argentina to Ukraine, must be prompting some of the local population to move their savings away from depreciating currencies and into hard assets like gold."
Gold turned up $5.70, or 0.5%, in the prior session and has advanced $17.40, or 1.4%, since Friday.
Silver ended higher as well on Thursday, extending its winning streak to four sessions. Silver for March delivery added 12 cents, or 6%, to settle at $19.93 an ounce. Prices ranged from $19.83 to $20.18. The precious metal has gained 81 cents, or 4.2%, since Friday.
PGMs split with platinum reversing course for a loss and palladium rising for a second consecutive day. On Thursday:
-
April platinum declined $4.40, or 0.3%, to $1,374.90 an ounce, trading between $1,370.30 and $1,385.80.
- Palladium for March delivery settled up $3.25, or 0.5%, to $710.35 an ounce, ranging from $707 to $715.80.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals registered mostly modest changes, with silver the exception. In contrasting the London fix prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold gained $2, or 0.2%, to $1,256.50 an ounce,
- Silver jumped 51 cents, or 2.6%, to $20.14 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $3, or 0.2%, to $1,380 an ounce, and
- Palladium shed $3, or 0.4%, to $714 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in February
U.S. Mint bullion coin sales increased Thursday for mid-sized American Gold Eagles and for American Silver Eagles. On Wednesday, bullion coin sales were flat following two straight days of broad gains. Below is a current sales breakdown across all the bureau’s bullion products.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Week-To-Date Sales | Sales Last Week | 2014 Sales to Feb. 6 | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 64,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 1,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 14,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 6,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 170,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 46,500 |
| American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 30,000 | 825,000 | 741,000 | 5,600,000 |
