Precious metals futures advanced Wednesday with gold closing higher for the first time in five sessions and silver scoring another fresh, almost two-year high.
Gold for August delivery settled up $8.30, or 0.6%, to $1,343.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,328.10 to a high of $1,346.30.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately higher Wednesday on a corrective bounce as traders once again ‘bought the dip’ after Tuesday’s solid selling pressure," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "Gold bulls remain in firm near-term technical control of the charts, which is encouraging buying interest as such suggests the path of least resistance for prices will remain sideways to higher in the near term."
Gold shed 1.6% in the prior session, its biggest decline in the four-session losing streak.
Silver for September delivery tacked on 24.2 cents, or 1.2%, to close at $20.413 an ounce. The settlement is the highest since July 30, 2014 when the precious metal ended at $20.60 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $19.95 and $20.55.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
October platinum rose $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,100.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,087.50 to $1,105.60.
- Palladium for September delivery added $15.25, or 2.4%, to $644.20 an ounce, trading between $623.75 and $649.05.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold edged up 35 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $1,342.75 an ounce.
- Silver declined 6 cents, or 0.3%, to $20.29 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
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. 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 | June Sales | July Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 7,500 | 6,000 | 62,500 | 13,500 | 419,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 1,000 | 47,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 90,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 70,000 | 5,000 | 510,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 500 | 14,500 | 3,500 | 116,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 250,000 | 295,000 | 2,837,500 | 545,000 | 26,795,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34,200 | 0 | 34,200 |
