Gold, silver and platinum futures on Wednesday extended their winning streaks to four straight sessions. Gold finished at a nearly two-week high. Silver topped $16 an ounce for the first time since June.
Gold for December delivery added $2.30, or 0.2%, to close at $1,148.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the highest since Sept. 24 when prices rallied to $1,153.80 an ounce.
"Prices notched another two-week high as bulls are building upon their recent technical momentum," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily report. "Also, a general rebound in the raw commodity sector this week — led by crude oil — is benefiting the precious metals bulls."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,141.30 to a high of $1,153.60. They gained 0.8% on Tuesday, edged up 0.1% on Monday and surged 2.1% on Friday.
Silver for December delivery tacked on 11 cents, or 0.7%, to end at $16.09 an ounce. Silver prices traded from $15.82 to $16.12. They gained 1.6% on Tuesday, jumped 2.9% on Monday and soared 5.2% on Friday. Silver’s settlement is the highest since June 22 when prices hit $16.14 an ounce.
In other precious metals futures on Wednesday:
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January platinum gained $11.70, or 1.3%, to $946.40 an ounce, ranging from $936.50 to $955.50.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $8.20, or 1.2%, to $699.50 an ounce, trading between $691 and $714.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were divided. In comparing their prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold dipped $2.90, or 0.3%, to $1,144.60 an ounce.
- Silver added 15 cents, or 1%, to $15.82 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in October
United States Mint logged wide sales of its bullion coins, with all available product options advancing. Gains included 24,500 ounces in gold coins and 750,000 ounces in silver coins.
The U.S. Mint has limited sales of bullion American Silver Eagles since temporarily running out of them in early July. The agency allocated 1,075,000 coins for this week. With Wednesday’s gains, just 79,500 of those remain. Also, their sales for the year hit 37,050,000 coins — a record pace, up 8.9% through the same time in 2014. Last year when sales ended at an annual record totaling 44,006,000, the coins by Oct. 7 reached sales of 34,026,000.
Below is a listing of United States Mint bullion products with the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week / Oct | Sept Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 8,000 | 9,500 | 13,500 | 98,500 | 533,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 9,000 | 65,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 20,000 | 146,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 15,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 175,000 | 850,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 4,000 | 2,500 | 7,000 | 22,000 | 177,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 296,500 | 1,000,000 | 995,500 | 3,804,500 | 37,050,000 |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 35,000 | |||
| 2015 Kisatchie 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 42,000 | |||
| 2015 Blue Ridge Parkway 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 45,000 | |||
| 2015 Bombay Hook 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 45,000 | N/A | 45,000 | 45,000 |
