Precious metals moved narrowly Wednesday with gold dipping 20 cents after edging 50 cents higher on Tuesday. But with the loss, gold prices have ended down in seven of the last eight sessions and are near a four-month low.
Gold for August delivery settled at $1,244.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal traded from a low of $1,242.80 to a high of $1,249.50.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session near unchanged levels Wednesday," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily note. "The precious metal is treading water ahead of two key economic events that lie just ahead: Thursday’s European Central Bank meeting and Friday’s U.S. jobs report."
Silver for July delivery tacked on 3 cents, or 0.2%, to close at $18.79 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $18.72 to $18.88 and have advanced for three straight sessions.
And in PGMs, platinum advanced for the first time in five sessions while palladium gained for a fourth straight session. In their daily breakdowns:
-
July platinum rose 40 cents to $1,433.90 an ounce, trading between $1,421.40 and $1,442.80.
- Palladium for September delivery added 45 cents to $837.15 an ounce, ranging from $832.70 to $838.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals fixings also logged mostly minor changes. In contrasting the London bullion fixings from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold gained $2.50, or 0.2%, to $1,245.25 an ounce,
- Silver declined 11 cents, or 0.6%, to $18.76 an ounce,
- Platinum fell $9, or 0.6%, to $1,422 an ounce, and
- Palladium was unchanged at $834 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in June
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday as of 3:02 p.m. ET but they did rise late in the day on Tuesday. Those increases included:
- 400 ounces in platinum coins,
- 8,500 ounces in gold coins, and
- 625,000 ounces in silver coins
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Tuesday, last week, this week and the month so far, last month, and the year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Tuesday Sales | Sales Last Week | Week-To-Date / June Sales | May Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 400 | 0 | 500 | 1,000 | 12,700 |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 6,500 | 10,000 | 29,000 | 165,500 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6,000 | 68,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 335,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 3,500 | 3,000 | 12,500 | 98,500 |
| $1 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 620,000 | 426,500 | 620,000 | 3,988,500 | 22,056,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 0 | 500 | 4,000 | 27,500 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 1,700 | 500 | 19,100 | 19,600 |
