Precious metals futures logged mostly modest changes Tuesday after soaring on Monday. Gold stretched its winning streak to five straight sessions and closed at a fresh, nearly eight-month high.
Gold for April delivery edged up 70 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $1,198.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since June 19 when the yellow metal ended at $1,201.90 an ounce.
"’Gold up, stocks down’ is becoming a real theme for 2016," MarketWatch quoted Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault. "It’s telling that gold has hit new highs and stocks set new lows with China closed for New Year," he said. It shows that "the panic in equities is about much more than Chinese growth" and "gold’s appeal is growing fast amongst Western money managers."
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,185.90 to a high of $1,199.30. They rallied on Monday by $40.20 or 3.5%.
Silver for March delivery added 2.3 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $15.449 an ounce. The close was the highest since Oct. 30 when silver finished at $15.57 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $15.29 and $15.47. In the prior session, they jumped 64.8 cents or 4.4%.
In other precious metals futures:
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April platinum advanced $10.70, or 1.2%, to $939.40 an ounce, ranging from $922.50 to $939.90.
- Palladium for March delivery slipped $1.25, or 0.2%, to $516.85 an ounce, trading between $511 and $519.20.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were mixed. In comparing their levels from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold lost $2.25, or 0.2%, to $1,191 an ounce.
- Silver added 40 cents, or 2.7%, to $15.34 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 were unchanged Tuesday. Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 9,500 | 5,500 | 89,000 | 15,000 | 104,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 23,000 | 3,000 | 26,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36,000 | 0 | 36,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 145,000 | 15,000 | 160,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 34,000 | 2,000 | 36,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,045,500 | 722,500 | 5,954,500 | 1,768,000 | 7,722,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | N/A | 55,000 | 55,000 |
