Gold and silver on Monday advanced for a second consecutive session with gold prices hitting a near four-month high and silver prices topping $22 an ounce.
Gold for April delivery closed up $14.40, or 1.1%, to $1,338 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the highest since Oct. 30.
"Gold’s rally this year has been built on several fronts, including the oversold bounce, but it picked up more steam from geopolitical fears and currency concerns, not to mention the renewed interest out of China and India for the physical product," MarketWatch quoted Richard Gotterer, managing director and senior financial advisor at Wescott financial Advisory Group.
The precious metal on the day ranged from a low of $1,318.70 to a high of $1,339.20. Gold climbed 0.4% last week and has advanced 11.3% since the end of 2013.
Silver for March delivery jumped 27 cents, or 1.2%, to $22.05 an ounce, trading between $21.52 and $22.18. Silver prices last week rallied 1.7%. They are 13.8% higher on the year so far.
In PGM futures on Monday:
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Up for a second session, April platinum advanced $13.50, or 1%, to $1,441.40 an ounce. Platinum ranged from $1,420.20 to $1,443.50.
- Up for a third session, palladium for March delivery added $3.05, or 0.4%, to $743.05 an ounce. It traded between $733.65 and $743.25.
London Fix Precious Metals
London bullion fixings advanced as well. In contrasting the London fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold gained $11.50, or 0.9%, to $1,334.75 an ounce,
- Silver tacked on 31 cents, or 1.4%, to $22.05 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $7.50, or 0.5%, to $1,430 an ounce, and
- Palladium inched up $2, or 0.3%, to $741 an ounce
Last week, gold and silver rose by 0.2% and 3.1% while platinum and palladium fell by 0.2% and 0.1%.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in February
Sales of United States Mint American Silver Eagles jumped 825,500 on Monday, surpassing last week’s total of 750,000 and topping 8.1 million for the year-to-date.
Since the Silver Eagles debut in 1986, just two other years through the first two full months recorded higher sales — last year at over 10.8 million and in 2011 at over 9.6 million.
Below is a current sales breakdown across all the bureau’s bullion products.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Sales Last Week | Feb Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 17,000 | 79,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 14,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 45,000 | 205,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 11,500 | 53,000 |
| American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 825,500 | 750,000 | 3,325,500 | 8,100,500 |
