Gold and silver futures fell on Thursday for the fourth time in five sessions, with gold ending at a two-week low and silver closing at a one-month low.
Gold for February delivery declined $13.50, or 1.2%, to settle at $1,073.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the weakest since Dec. 31.
"Gold prices were ending the U.S. day session moderately lower, with selling interest tied to a good bounce in the U.S. stock market Thursday. A higher U.S. dollar index on this day was also a negative ‘outside market’ force working against the precious metals market bulls," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "The gold bulls are fading this week and need to step up and show fresh power very soon. A technically bearish weekly low close on Friday would likely be an invitation for fresh chart-based selling early next week."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,071.10 to a high of $1,095.40. They gained 0.2% on Wednesday, shed 1% on Tuesday, dropped 0.2% on Monday and lost 0.9% on Friday. One week ago, the yellow metal settled at $1,107.80 for its highest close since Nov. 3.
Silver for March delivery tumbled 40.8 cents, or 2.9%, to settle at $13.748 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since Dec. 17. Silver prices traded between $13.74 and $14.18. They surged 40.5 cents on Wednesday.
In other precious metals futures:
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April platinum fell $16.50, or 1.9%, to $834.80 an ounce, ranging from $831 to $852.
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Palladium for March delivery added $4.60, or 1%, to $491.25 an ounce, trading between $479 and $494.80.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices moved higher. In comparing their levels from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold added 25 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $1,088.40 an ounce.
- Silver added 19 cents, or 1.4%, to $14.02 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales on Thursday were unchanged for the first this week. The agency released its 2016-dated editions on Monday and sales took off sharply. Totals on the week so far are 95,500 ounces in gold coins and 3.5 million ounces in silver coins.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) have sold out.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | Dec Sales | 2015 Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | N/A | 50,500 | N/A | 626,500 | 50,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | – | 0 | 13,000 | 1,000 | 75,000 | 13,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | N/A | 26,000 | N/A | 158,000 | 26,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | N/A | 85,000 | N/A | 985,000 | 85,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 23,500 | 1,500 | 220,500 | 23,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | N/A | 3,500,000 | 2,333,500 | 47,000,000 | 3,500,000 |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 35,000 | N/A | |||
| 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 | |||||
| 2015 Saratoga 5 Oz Silver Coins* | N/A | 9,200 | 45,000 | |||
