Precious metals futures on Monday settled lower for a third straight session. Gold registered its lowest price in five weeks while silver closed at a more than three-week low.
Gold for April delivery declined $1.50, or 0.1%, to close at $1,220.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the weakest since Feb. 22 when gold ended at $1,210.10 an ounce.
"Less risk aversion in the marketplace to start the trading week is a negative for safe-haven gold," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily note. "Also, the recent selling pressure in gold has invited chart-based selling from the shorter-term futures traders."
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,206 to a high of $1,223.20. They fell last week by 2.6%, their third weekly loss in a row.
Silver for May delivery dipped 0.9 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $15.190 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since March 3 when the precious metal ended at $15.146 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.14 to $15.38. They gave back 3.9% last week.
In PGM futures:
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April platinum fell $7.70, or 0.8%, to $944.70 an ounce, trading between $939.20 and $956.30.
- Palladium for June delivery shed $5.65, or 1%, to $567 an ounce, ranging from $566 to $584.55.
Last week, platinum dropped 1.9% and palladium dived 3%.
London Precious Metals Prices
London markets shut down for Good Friday and Easter Monday holiday. The most recent PM price changes from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM had:
- Gold added $3.40, or 0.3%, to $1,221 an ounce.
- Silver declined 30 cents, or 1.9%, to $15.28 an ounce.
- Platinum declined $3, or 0.3%, to $957 an ounce.
- Palladium declined $3, or 0.5%, to $577 an ounce.
Last week, they posted losses of 2.5% for gold, 4.1% for silver, 1.5% for platinum and 2.7% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged.
Earlier on Monday, the U.S. Mint announced a sales limit of 1 million American Silver Eagles for this week, matching the last several weekly levels. The Silver Eagle’s cumulative sales total for this year is at 14 million coins, or 22.1% higher than through the same time in record year 2015.
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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 89,000 | 67,500 | 24,000 | 180,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 1,000 | 30,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 36,000 | 12,000 | 4,000 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 145,000 | 100,000 | 50,000 | 295,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 34,000 | 19,000 | 5,000 | 58,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,000,000 | 5,954,500 | 4,782,000 | 3,263,500 | 14,000,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | N/A | 105,000 | 0 | 105,000 |
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