Gold and silver prices settled higher for a third straight session Tuesday while platinum and palladium extended their winning streaks to four sessions. On the day, gold hit an 11-week high and silver jumped to a 4-week high.
Gold for February delivery rose $1.60, or 0.1%, to end at $1,234.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The concerns about Europe and huge uncertainty over what this oil price drop means for the global economy mean we have seen some safe-haven buying of gold," Reuters quoted Caroline Bain, an analyst at Capital Economics. "Gold and the dollar are usually inversely correlated, but the same sort of risk-off (environment) is perhaps benefiting them both at this time."
Gold ranged from $1,228 to $1,244.50, the highest price since Oct. 23.
Silver for March delivery rallied 59 cents, or 3.6%, to close at $17.16 an ounce. The precious metal traded between $16.57 and $17.22, the highest price since Dec. 12.
In PGM futures on Tuesday:
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April platinum settled up $6.80, or 0.6%, to $1,247.80 an ounce, ranging from $1,237.40 and $1,249.40.
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Palladium for March delivery tacked on $1.60, or 0.2, to $815.70 an ounce, trading between $807.75 and $820.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals also continued higher. In comparing London bullion Fix prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold added $5, 0.4%, to $1,231.50 an ounce,
- Silver advanced 48 cents, or 2.9%, to $17 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $11, or 0.9%, to $1,244 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $11, or 1.4%, to $817 an ounce.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in January
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:48 PM ET following wide 2015-dated coin gains on Monday, which included first-day sales of nearly 3 million Silver Eagles.
Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, in December, last year, and the year to date. Coins with an asterisk (*) have sold out for 2014.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Current Week | December Sales | 2014 Sales | January / 2015 Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,900 | 0 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 26,000 | 3,500 | 13,000 | 415,500 | 29,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 13,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 46,000 | 15,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 24,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 118,000 | 28,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 65,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 565,000 | 75,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 18,500 | 3,500 | 4,500 | 177,500 | 22,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,958,000 | 2.459M | 44.006M | 2,958,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33,000 | 0 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,100 | 24,400 | 0 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22,000 | 0 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 21,900 | 0 |
| Everglades 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7,000 | 34,000 | 0 |
