Precious metals bounced higher on Monday with gold climbing from a 5-3/4-year low and silver rising from an 11-week low.
Gold for December delivery advanced $2.70, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,083.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The daily gain, while modest, was the biggest since Oct. 28.
"Gold opened higher early this morning on the back of what happened over the weekend on perceived geopolitical risk, but it seems to be already short-lived because the bigger macroeconomic issues are the dollar’s strength and the (expected) U.S. rate hike," Reuters quoted Citi strategist David Wilson.
The yellow metal ranged from a low of $1,081.60 to a high of $1,097.40. Gold prices dipped last week by 0.6%, their fourth straight weekly decline, and settled Friday at their lowest level since Feb. 10, 2010.
Snapping a 10-session losing streak, silver for December delivery edged up 2 cents, or 0.1%, to settle at $14.22 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $14.17 to $14.42. They fell 3.3% last week and closed on Friday at their lowest point since Aug. 26.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
-
January platinum rose $1.80, or 0.2%, to $865.50 an ounce, trading between $858.20 and $875.60.
- Palladium for December delivery gained $12.30, or 2.3%, to $551.55 an ounce, ranging from $539.50 to $553.
Last week, platinum plunged 8.1% and palladium dived 12%.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were divided. In comparing their prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold added $3.25, or 0.3%, to $1,084.75 an ounce.
- Silver shed 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $14.36 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
London bullion prices last week logged declines of 0.7% for gold, 4.6% for silver, 7.8% for platinum and 10.6% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales
United States Mint bullion sales started the week strong on Monday with gold coins gaining 16,500 ounces and silver coins advancing 663,000 ounces. The increases follow on the heels of sharp increases last week with gold sales the strongest in 2 months and silver sales the highest in nearly 3 months.
Earlier, the U.S. Mint announced a weekly Silver Eagle allocation of 900,000 coins. Buyers claimed 73.7% of them on Monday, leaving 237,000 left for the week. The U.S. Mint has restricted sales of bullion American Silver Eagles since temporarily running out of them in early July. Sales at 42,692,500 for the year continue at a record pace, up 8.4% from the same time in 2014. Last year when Silver Eagle sales ended at an annual record of just over 44 million, the bullion coins by Nov. 16, 2014 had posted sales of 39,381,000.
Below is a listing of U.S. 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Oct Sales | Nov Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 9,500 | 21,000 | 26,000 | 35,00 | 581,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 69,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins* | N/A | 10,000 | 4,000 | 12,000 | 158,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 30,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 | 75,000 | 955,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,500 | 3,500 | 10,500 | 11,500 | 192,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 663,000 | 1,107,500 | 3,788,000 | 2,850,000 | 42,692,500 |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 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* | 45,000 | ||||
