Gold was little changed Thursday, down less than 0.1%. Other precious metals posted heavier declines. United States Mint coin sales rose, sharply again for American Silver Eagles.
Gold for December delivery edged down 40 cents to $1,215.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"With the likelihood of further weakness in equity markets, coupled with the still-volatile situation in Hong Kong, we would rather not want to be short gold here, as we think the precious metal may benefit from some short-covering heading into the weekend," Reuters quoted Edward Meir, metals analyst at brokerage INTL FCStone.
Gold traded from a low of $1,209.10 to a high of $1,224. Prices turned up Wednesday by $3.90, or 0.3%.
Silver for December delivery lost 21 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $17.05 an ounce. Prices ranged from $16.93 to $17.35. Silver advanced 20 cents in the prior session.
In PGM futures on Thursday:
-
January platinum declined $19.20, or 1.5%, to $1,270.40 an ounce, trading between $1,264.60 and $1,294.70.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $15.90, or 2%, to $768.65 an ounce, ranging from $768.05 to $787.40.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals changed slightly, most by 0.3%. In contrasting the London bullion Fix prices and the LBMA Silver Price from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $4.75, or 0.4%, to $1,211.75 an ounce,
- Silver added a nickel, or 0.3%, to $17.09,
- Platinum shed $4, or 0.3%, to $1,273 an ounce, and
- Palladium rose $2, or 0.3%, to $777 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in October
U.S. Mint coin sales advanced by 2,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and by 500,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles. Silver coin sales this week are the strongest since 2014 Silver Eagles debuted in mid-January.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Thursday, last week, this week, last month, this month, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Last Week | Current Week | September Sales | October Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 200 | 2,500 | 2,700 | 400 | 16,700 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 1,500 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 50,500 | 4,000 | 300,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 33,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 92,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 5,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 5,000 | 445,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 4,000 | 14,500 | 2,500 | 142,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 500,000 | 1,290,000 | 2,740,000 | 4,140,000 | 1,650,000 | 33,901,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 3,500 | 0 | 33,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 21,500 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 300 | 0 | 800 | 0 | 22,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,200 | 800 | 4,500 | 500 | 12,500 |
