Gold and silver futures closed higher on Wednesday for a second day in a row, boosted by weakness in the U.S. dollar.
Gold for December delivery added $5.20, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,351.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Prices today are being supported by a combination of short covering and a weak dollar," Reuters quoted David Govett, Marex Spectron’s head of precious metals. "Many people were a few positions short and you saw a lot of trying to cover that," Govett added.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,345.70 to a high of $1,363.60. They also rose by 0.4% on Tuesday.
Silver for September delivery tacked on 32 cents, or 1.6%, to $20.17 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $19.90 and $20.52. In the previous session, they edged up by 0.2%.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
October platinum rose $23.20, or 2%, to $1,183.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,159 to $1,199.50.
- Palladium for September delivery surged $32.05, or 4.6%, to $726.40 an ounce — the highest since June 2015, and traded between $694.55 and $747.50.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold rose $6.70, or 0.5%, to $1,347.70 an ounce.
- Silver jumped 63.5 cents, or 3.2%, to $20.34 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 advanced on Wednesday by 6,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles. The agency’s gold sales so far this week at 19,000 ounces are already more than three times higher than the 5,500 ounces sold last week, when both gold and silver coins logged their lowest weekly increases of the year.
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. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | July Sales | Aug Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19,000 | 0 | 19,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 6,000 | 5,000 | 16,000 | 30,000 | 21,000 | 457,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 48,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 0 | 96,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 15,000 | 50,000 | 20,000 | 575,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 10,000 | 1,500 | 124,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 75,000 | 150,000 | 1,370,000 | 225,000 | 27,845,500 |
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 34,200 |
Mike Unser & CoinNews readers FYI – The real headline for precious metals today is the amazing performance of palladium today. Overnight I was looking very early in the morning about 1:30 am CT & it was up $49 per ounce! Palladium ended the day at a 14-month high with the intra-day jump being the highest in 6 years! It is attributed to much higher car sales in China as all catalytic converters contain platinum group metals, including palladium. Palladium has increased 10 times more than gold in the third quarter so far. This matters to the US Mint as… Read more »