Precious metals futures declined Thursday. Losses in gold and silver were their first in three sessions, though the former changed only little.
Gold for April delivery slipped 30 cents to settle at $1,238.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold has put in a very good performance and the fact that we are seeing higher lows and higher highs points to a bullish scenario," Reuters quoted MKS head of trading Afshin Nabavi.
"Overall buying is safe-haven related … if we can stabilize around $1,250, a broader range of investors will come in," he added.
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,221.80 to a high of $1,244.40. In the previous session, they advanced $16.50 or 1.4%.
Silver for March delivery dropped 12.7 cents, or 0.8%, to settle at $15.17 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.03 to $15.33. On Wednesday, they rose 5.7 cents or 0.4%.
In PGM futures on Thursday:
-
April platinum declined $16.70, or 1.8%, to $927 an ounce, trading between $918.40 and $947.40.
- Palladium for June delivery fell $4, or 0.8%, to $483.55 an ounce, ranging from $480.45 to $494.60.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices also declined. In comparing their levels from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold fell $14.75, or 1.2%, to $1,236 an ounce.
- Silver fell 16 cents, or 1%, to $15.16 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 registered gains of 3,000 ounces in gold coins and ounces and 101,000 ounces in silver coins.
This week, the U.S. Mint limited sales of American Silver Eagles to 1,073,500 coins. The last of those have now been claimed and no more will be available until next Monday. Their cumulative total stands at 10 million coins since going on sale Jan. 11. Last year’s 2015-dated Silver Eagle ended at a record 47 million coins, with sales through Feb. 25, 2015 reaching 8,493,000 coins.
Elsewhere, sales of 2016 Shawnee National Forest Five Ounce Silver Bullion Coins rose by 2,500 coins for a new total of 105,000 coins. It is the highest total since the 2011 Glacier National Park coin logged sales of 126,700 coins.
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 17,500 | 6,000 | 89,000 | 58,500 | 147,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 36,000 | 10,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 25,000 | 145,000 | 75,000 | 220,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 6,500 | 4,500 | 34,000 | 17,000 | 51,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 88,500 | 926,500 | 1,073,500 | 5,954,500 | 4,045,500 | 10,000,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 2,500 | 0 | 30,000 | N/A | 105,000 | 105,000 |
