Gold prices rallied in the mid-week session Wednesday to close at a six month high and extend a winning streak to three sessions.
Gold for April delivery advanced $23.80, or 1.8%, to settle at $1,370.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price was the highest since gold ended at $1,386.70 an ounce on Sept. 9.
"Open interest in gold futures and options has jumped, and price action says this new hot money is all bullish," MarketWatch quoted Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault. "But the market doesn’t look over-stretched yet. The [speculative] net long position almost tripled between New Year’s and last week."
In heavy volume, gold prices ranged from a low of $1,345.60 to a high of $1,371.30. The yellow metal so far this week has gained $32.30, or 2.4%.
Silver for May delivery surged 54 cents, or 2.6%, to close at $21.36 an ounce, snapping a string of losses that began on Friday. Silver prices traded between $20.82 and $21.44.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
-
April platinum rose $11.70, or 0.8%, to $1,476.30 an ounce, ranging from $1,458.30 to $1,481.80.
- Palladium for June delivery gained $6.65, or 0.9%, to $777.15 an ounce, trading between $762.10 and $779.15.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals were mostly lower. Gold was the exception. In contrasting the London fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold advanced $19.75, or 1.5%, to $1,366 an ounce,
- Silver fell 28 cents, or 1.3%, to $20.97 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $10, or 0.7%, to $1,473 an ounce, and
- Palladium retreated $6, or 0.8%, to $772 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in March
Sales totals of U.S. Mint bullion coins were unchanged Wednesday as of 4:35 p.m. ET. American Eagle coins in gold and silver have sales this week that already surpass those of last week. Additionally, on Monday the U.S. Mint re-introduced its bullion American Eagle palladium coin after a 5-year hiatus.
Below is a sales breakdown across U.S. Mint bullion products with columns offering the number of bullion coins sold on the week so far, last week, in February 2014, the month-to-date, and the year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Sales Last Week | Week-To-Date | February Sales | March Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | N/A | 8,700 | N/A | 8,700 | 8,700 |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 22,000 | 3,000 | 87,500 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 17,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 38,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | 20,000 | 230,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 1,000 | 12,000 | 5,000 | 58,500 |
| $1 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,100,000 | 1,124,500 | 3,750,000 | 2,224,500 | 10,749,500 |
