Gold rallied 1.8% Wednesday, closing higher for the first time since Friday and ending above $1,300 an ounce for the first time since July 28.
Gold for December delivery surged $22.90 to settle at $1,308.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Rising tensions between Ukraine and Russia boosted safe haven demand, opined analysts.
"Gold is getting the fear bid," Charlie Bilello, director of research who helps oversee $220 million of assets at New York-based Pension Partners LLC, said in a telephone interview according to Bloomberg News. "Concern about a correction in the equity market is also bringing some people to gold."
Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,288.50 to a high of $1,311. Prices declined 0.3% during the prior session for a fifth loss in six sessions.
Silver advanced for the first time in five sessions with the September contract up 19 cents, or 1%, to $20.02 an ounce. Silver traded between $19.77 and $20.14.
In other precious metals:
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October platinum tacked on $9.30, or 0.6%, to $1,465.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,451.20 to $1,467.10.
- Palladium for September edged up 55 cents to $848.90 an ounce, trading between $840.35 and $850.90.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals were mixed. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold gained $21.75, or 1.7%, to $1,306.50 an ounce,
- Silver lost 42 cents, or 2.1%, $19.78 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $3, or 0.2%, to $1,457 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $2, or 0.2%, to $845 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in August
U.S. Mint bullion coin sales have advanced each day this week, notching gold and silver totals that are already sharply higher than last week.
In the notable column, American Silver Eagles turned up 380,000 for 955,000 on the week so far, the most sold in a week since the one ended May 9. They also hurdled 27 million for the year to maintain a pace that is the second quickest in the coin’s 29-year history. Silver Eagle sales in record year 2013 had topped 30.2 million through Aug. 6, 2013. Sales of the silver coins had been on a record annual pace this year until the slowdowns in June and July.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Wednesday, last week, this week so far, last month, the month so far, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Sales Last Week | Current Sales Week | July Sales | August Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,900 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 2,000 | 1,500 | 8,500 | 26,000 | 8,500 | 233,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 80,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 5,000 | 390,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 500 | 0 | 2,000 | 5,500 | 2,000 | 119,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 380,000 | 335,000 | 955,000 | 1,975,000 | 955,000 | 27,058,500 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 500 | 0 | 29,500 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | 20,000 |
