Gold recovered some of the prior session’s losses on Monday but held below the key $1,200 an ounce level.
Gold for February delivery settled up $4.50, or 0.4%, to $1,194.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Short covering in the futures market and bargain hunting in the cash market were featured, along with some technical chart consolidation," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily note. "The gold market Monday showed resilience in the face of bearish ‘outside markets’ that saw the U.S. dollar index hit a four-year high overnight, while crude oil prices hit a five-year low during the U.S. trading session."
Gold traded from an intraday low of $1,187.30 to a high of $1,204.80. Gold prices advanced 1.3% last week. They tumbled $17.30 on Friday, pressured by a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
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Silver for March delivery gained 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $16.28 an ounce, ranging from $16.17 to $16.41.
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January platinum added $9.90, or 0.8%, to $1,229.40 an ounce, trading between $1,220 and $1,237.90.
- Palladium for March delivery declined $4.90, or 0.6%, to $797.80 an ounce, ranging from $796.50 to $807.70.
Last week, silver surged 4.5%, platinum climbed 0.7% and palladium slipped 1.3%.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals changed slightly, if at all. When comparing London bullion Fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold declined $1, or less than 0.1%, to $1,193 an ounce,
- Silver lost 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $16.26 an ounce,
- Platinum was unchanged at $1,231 an ounce, and
- Palladium dipped $3, or 0.4%, to $803 an ounce
Last week, palladium shed 0.4% while the other metals registered gains of 1% for gold, 2.3% for silver and 2.2% for platinum.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in December
United States Mint bullion sales on Monday were limited to American Silver Eagles, up 495,500 to over 1.3 million for the month. As reported earlier on CoinNews, the gain lifted the coin’s all-time sales to more than 400 million and made 2014 a record year in sales at above 42.8 million.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold on Monday, last week, last month, and the year to date. Coins with an asterisk (*) have sold out.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | November Sales | December Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,700 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 12,000 | 49,000 | 12,000 | 414,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 0 | 46,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 12,000 | 6,000 | 118,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 30,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 560,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 12,500 | 2,500 | 175,500 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 498,500 | 821,500 | 3,426,000 | 1,317,000 | 42,864,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33,000 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 300 | 900 | 300 | 23,600 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22,000 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,800 | 1,700 | 1,800 | 19,700 |
| Everglades 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 7,000 | 27,000 | 7,000 | 34,000 |
