Gold rallied on Friday, extending a win streak to two days after seesawing for six sessions. The precious metal also scored a weekly increase for the first time in four weeks.
Gold for December delivery tacked on $24.10, or 2.1%, to settle at $1,185.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The early morning pressure was met with significant bargain hunting, and when the market was unable to continue its move lower, short-covering ensued," Reuters quoted David Meger, director of metals trading at Vision Financial Markets.
"A lot of buy stops were triggered at $1,167.40, and that brought in the upward momentum," Phil Streible, a senior commodity broker at R.J. O’Brien & Associates in Chicago, said in a telephone interview according to Bloomberg News. "Today’s run-up was largely technical, and a few investors bought gold after oil prices showed some strength."
For the week, gold prices gained $15.80, or 1.4%. They are off in opposite direction, by 1.4%, for the year so far.
Gold Outlook
Results of the latest Kitco News survey weighed bearish again for gold, although a smidgen less than a week earlier. Eleven survey takers expect the yellow metal to fall next week, 5 see prices rising and 3 see prices trading sideways or are neutral. Kitco News quotes Adrian Day, president and chief executive officer of Adrian Day Asset Management:
"Flat. Difficult to call up or down, with no clear direction. Gold is trying to bounce off the bottom, but buyers see no rush, so downward pressure remains."
Kitco gold survey results last week had splits of 14 down, 6 up, and 3 sideways or neutral.
Silver, Platinum and Palladium Futures
Silver for December delivery soared 69 cents, or 4.4%, to close at $16.31 an ounce. Silver prices jumped 3.8% from a week ago. They are down 15.8% from the end of 2013.
In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:
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January platinum gained $14.10, or 1.2%, to $1,213.10 an ounce, climbing 30 cents from a week ago.
- Palladium for December delivery edged up 50 cents to $771.35 an ounce but slipped 0.2% on the week.
On the year to date, platinum has fallen 11.7% while palladium has advanced 7.4%.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals were mixed on the day and down on the week. When comparing London bullion Fix prices from Thursday PM to Friday PM:
- Gold gained $7.25, or 0.6%, to $1,169 an ounce,
- Silver dropped 39 cents, or 2.5%, to $15.35 an ounce,
- Platinum fell $23, or 1.9%, to $1,178 an ounce, and
- Palladium declined $11, or 1.4%, to $760 an ounce
Weekly losses tallied to 1.3% for gold, 0.5% for silver, 1.7% for platinum and 0.4% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in November
United States Mint weekly bullion sales fell sharply from a week ago when gold sales notched their highest total since mid-January and American Silver Eagles temporarily sold out. The Mint will resume bullion Silver Eagle sales on Monday, Nov. 17. In the latest week-over-week bullion coin comparisons:
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Gold coins added 15,500 ounces after soaring by 38,500 ounces in the previous week. Splits were 13,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles compared to 32,500 ounces previously, and 2,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos compared to 6,000 ounces previously.
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Silver coins were muted after advancing 1,375,000 ounces a week earlier when American Silver Eagles gained 1,260,000 ounces and America the Beautiful Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coin rose by 115,000 ounces.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Friday, last week, this week, last month, in November and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday Sales | Last Week | Current Week | October Sales | November Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | N/A | 400 | N/A* | 16,700 | ||
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 9,000 | 29,000 | 10,000 | 57,500 | 39,000 | 392,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 42,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 108,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 | 30,000 | 520,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 1,500 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 21,000 | 8,000 | 168,500 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,260,000 | 0 | 5,790,000 | 1,260,000 | 39,381,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 400 | 0 | 900 | 400 | 22,800 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 600 | 0 | 4,200 | 600 | 16,800 |
| Everglades 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 22,000 | 0 | N/A | 22,000 | 22,000 |
*The U.S. Mint stopped selling bullion Platinum Eagles on Oct. 1. The agency will begin selling 2015-dated issues in early January.
