Gold ended lower to start the new trading week Monday, snapping a five-session winning streak and pulling back from a six-month high.
Gold for April delivery declined $6.10, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,372.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal was pressured, opined analysts, on profit-taking and as investors returned to equities following sharp losses last week.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower Monday, on some profit-taking pressure and chart consolidation from recent gains that saw prices hit a six-month high overnight," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily note. "The markets have digested well, so far, the news that Crimean citizens on Sunday voted to secede from Ukraine."
Gold traded from a low of $1,370 to a high of $1,392.60. Gold prices last week surged $40.80, or 3.1%.
Silver for May delivery retreated 14 cents, or 0.6%, to $21.28 an ounce. Prices ranged from $21.20 to $21.65. Silver prices jumped 2.3% last week.
PGMs split on the day after falling for both Friday and the week. In futures prices on Monday:
-
April platinum shed $1.20, or less than 0.1%, to $1,468.40 an ounce, trading between $1,465.80 and $1,483.20.
- Palladium for June delivery rose $3.15, or 0.4%, to $776.40 an ounce, ranging from $770 to $780.90.
Last week, platinum shed 0.9% and palladium slipped 1.1%.
London Fix Precious Metals
London bullion prices also declined on the day. In contrasting the London fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold dipped $6.50, or 0.5%, to $1,378.50 an ounce,
- Silver lost 14 cents, or 0.7%, to $21.22 an ounce,
- Platinum turned down $4, or 0.3%, to $1,474 an ounce, and
- Palladium fell $8, or 1%, to $772 an ounce
Silver was alone among precious metals fixings last week with a 0.1% loss. The other metals notched gains of 3.7% for gold, 0.3% for platinum and 0.5% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in March
U.S. Mint sales advanced across one-ounce bullion coins with Gold Eagles up 2,500; Gold Buffalos up 3,000; and Silver Eagles up 621,000. Year-to-date sales of Silver Eagles topped 11 million, which is more than each of the annual totals from the series start in 1986 through to 2007.
Tomorrow, the first batch of sales figures should be available for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin.
Below is a sales breakdown across United States Mint bullion products with columns offering the number of bullion coins sold on Monday, last week, last month, the month-to-date, and the year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Sales Last Week | February Sales | March Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 8,700 | N/A | 8,700 | 8,700 |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 2,500 | 4,000 | 22,000 | 7,500 | 92,000 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 17,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 42,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 50,000 | 25,000 | 235,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 3,000 | 1,500 | 12,000 | 8,500 | 62,000 |
| $1 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 621,000 | 1,200,000 | 3,750,000 | 2,921,000 | 11,446,000 |
