Gold, silver, platinum and palladium ended lower for a third straight session Tuesday. Gold declined the most, falling to a more than three-week low and below $1,300 an ounce.
Gold for August delivery retreated $9.60, or 0.7%, to close at $1,297.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement price was the lowest since June 18.
The yellow metal was weakened, opined analysts, by strength in the U.S. dollar. The greenback saw gains after Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen testified before Congress and said the U.S. economy is improving but still needed support.
"The Fed comments are definitely causing a rally in the dollar and a selloff in gold," Fain Shaffer, the president of Infinity Trading Corp. in Indianapolis, said in a telephone interview according to Bloomberg News.
Gold traded from an intraday low of $1,292.60 to a high of $1,314.40. The precious metal on Monday tumbled by nearly $31 for the biggest daily drop of the year. Gold prices last week rallied 1.3%, hitting a four-month high as recently as Thursday.
Silver for September delivery shed 3 cents, or 0.1%, to $20.89 an ounce, trading between $20.67 and $21.13.
In PGM futures:
-
October platinum declined $8, or 0.5%, to $1,485 an ounce, ranging from $1,482.10 to $1,503.20.
- Palladium for September delivery lost $3.45, or 0.4%, to $868.55 an ounce, trading between $862.90 and $876.
London Fix Precious Metals
Excluding silver, earlier fixed London precious metals turned higher. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold rose $4, or 0.3%, to $1,310 an ounce,
- Silver declined 20 cents, or 1%, to $20.93 an ounce,
- Platinum gained $3, or 0.2%, to $1,497 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $6, or 0.7%, to $874 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
Sales totals of United States Mint bullion coins were unchanged as of 3:03 pm. ET. Bullion coins surged on Monday with totals in gold and silver that surpassed those from last week.
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Sales Last Week | Current Sales Week | 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 | 5,500 | 5,500 | 43,000 | 16,500 | 215,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 74,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 15,000 | 375,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 16,000 | 3,500 | 115,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 360,000 | 400,000 | 2,692,000 | 835,000 | 24,963,500 |
| 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 | 500 | 0 | 18,500 | 500 | 19,000 |
