Gold and silver retreated Tuesday as profit-taking emerged following sharp gains from the prior day and as tensions eased between Russia and Ukraine to curtail safe-haven buying.
Gold for April delivery slipped $12.40, or 0.9%, to end at $1,337.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange after surging 2.2% in the prior session and closing at a more than four-month high.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session lower Tuesday, as the shorter-term traders took some profits and the market saw a downside technical correction from recent gains that on Monday saw gold hit a four-month high," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily note. "A slight de-escalation in the Ukraine crisis also put some risk appetite back into the market place Tuesday."
Gold traded from a low of $1,331.20 to a high of $1,352.90.
Silver for May delivery closed at $21.22 an ounce, falling 26 cents, or 1.2%. Prices ranged from $21.04 to $21.54. Silver advanced in the previous session by 24 cents.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
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April platinum added $3.40, or 0.2%, to $1,464.10 an ounce, trading between $1,442 and $1,467.60. Platinum has advanced for two consecutive sessions.
- Palladium for June delivery jumped $13.80, or 1.8%, to $763.80 an ounce, ranging from $744.80 to $765.70. Palladium extended its winning sessions to four straight.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals moved mostly lower. In contrasting the London fix prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold fell $14.75, or 1.1%, to $1,334.75 an ounce,
- Silver declined 31 cents, or 1.4%, to $21.15 an ounce,
- Platinum lost $5, or 0.3%, to $1,449 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $2, or 0.3%, to $749 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in March
Sales of one-ounce American Eagle gold and silver coins advanced Tuesday. Gold Eagles rose 1,000 for their first score of the month. Silver Eagles climbed 304,500 after rising 599,000 on Monday.
Below is a sales breakdown across U.S. Mint bullion products with columns offering the number of bullion coins sold on Tuesday, the week-to-date, last week, in February 2014 and for the year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Week-To-Date Sales | Sales Last Week | Sales Last Month | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 22,000 | 85,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 15,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 10,000 | 38,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 50,000 | 210,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 500 | 12,000 | 55,000 |
| American Silver Eagles | 304,500 | 903,500 | 1,250,000 | 3,750,000 | 9,428,500 |
