Gold futures snapped their four-session winning streak on Wednesday while silver closed higher for a fifth session in a row and notched a more than 10-month high.
Gold for June delivery declined $12.60, or 1%, to settle at $1,248.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is taking a breather after the recent gains and the bounce in stocks and the dollar is likely leading to traders taking profits," MarketWatch quoted Mark O’Byrne, research director at Dublin-based GoldCore.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,241.40 to a high of $1,258.70. In the previous session, they closed at their best level since March 17. The yellow metal trimmed its increase over last Friday to just 0.4%.
Silver for May delivery tacked on 10.3 cents, or 0.6%, to end at $16.325 an ounce. The settlement was the highest since June 3, when prices ended at $16.48 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $16.01 and $16.24. They are 6.1% higher so far this week.
In other precious metals futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum added $3.30, or 0.3%, to $1,003 an ounce, ranging from $988.30 to $1,004.10.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $1.65, or 0.3%, to $542.50 an ounce, trading between $537.65 and $551.40.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $8.85, or 0.7%, to $1,245.75 an ounce.
- Silver added 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $15.98 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion products are on fire with the agency’s silver coins selling out for the week and sales of its gold coins already the highest for a week since the one ended Jan. 22. On Wednesday alone, bullion advances included:
- 51,500 ounces in American Silver Eagles;
- 15,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles; and
- 3,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalo coins.
The U.S. Mint limited sales of American Silver Eagles this week to 1,036,000 coins, which included the 36,000 coins left over from last week’s allocation of 1,042,500 coins. Bullion distributors on Wednesday claimed the last of this week’s supply. The Silver Eagle’s cumulative sales total for this year is at 17 million coins, or 30.3% more 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 14,000 | 17,500 | 24,000 | 29,000 | 42,500 | 228,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 33,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 2,000 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 60,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 5,000 | 75,000 | 25,000 | 345,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 3,500 | 6,000 | 5,500 | 7,000 | 11,500 | 71,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 51,500 | 1,006,500 | 1,036,000 | 4,106,000 | 2,157,500 | 17,000,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
