Gold prices clocked in near a four-month high Thursday as investors scooped up havens on concerns over the health of Portugal’s top publicly traded bank.
Gold for August delivery advanced $14.90, or 1.1%, to end at $1,339.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The closing marks the highest price since Mar. 19 when gold finished at $1,341.30.
"We did have a strong gold rally during the last period of sovereign risk in Europe, so it’s not surprising to see the market reacting like this," Reuters quoted James Steel, metals analyst and senior vice-president at HSBC in New York.
"But to be fair, gold has been trending higher for a while now and there aren’t too many sellers to stand in the way with the geopolitical crises of the Middle East and Europe and the Fed’s insistence that higher U.S. rates are still way off."
Espírito Santo International said it missed payments on some of its debts. The firm is the parent of Banco Espírito Santo, Portugal’s top listed bank.
Gold prices traded from an intraday low of $1,325 to a high of $1,346.80.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
-
Silver for September delivery settled up 44 cents, or 2.1%, to $21.51 an ounce, ranging from $21.12 to $21.63.
-
October platinum rose $10.10, or 0.7%, to $1,517 an ounce, trading between $1,506.10 and $1,523.80.
- Palladium for September delivery etched out a gain of 90 cents, or 0.1%, to close at $873.60 an ounce. Prices ranged from $860.10 to $877.75.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals were mixed. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold rose $17.50, or 1.3%, to $1,340.25 an ounce,
- Silver jumped 37 cents, or 1.8%, to $21.50 an ounce,
- Platinum gained $8, or 0.5%, to $1,512 an ounce, and
- Palladium declined $7, or 0.8%, to $866 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
Sales of United States Mint bullion coins were unchanged as of 2:53 p.m. ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, this week so far, last month, the month to date, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Sales Last Week Sales | Week-To-Date | June Sales | July Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0 | 12,900 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 7,500 | 2,500 | 43,000 | 8,000 | 206,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 72,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 35,000 | 5,000 | 365,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 1,000 | 16,000 | 1,500 | 113,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 395,000 | 360,000 | 2,692,000 | 435,000 | 24,563,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 20,000 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | -800* | 500 | 18,500 | 500 | 19,000 |
*On Monday, June 30, the U.S Mint reduced sales of Arches silver coins.
