Precious metals futures declined Wednesday, with gold registering its seventh straight loss and, along with silver, ending at a more than five-week low.
Gold for April delivery fell $6.70, or 0.6%, to settle at $1,209.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement marks another close at gold’s lowest level since Feb. 1. Investors are already looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs report, opined analysts.
"Non-farm payrolls … will provide final confirmation of a rate hike next week and this could put more pressure on gold," Reuters quoted Julius Baer commodities analyst Carsten Menke.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,206.40 to a high of $1,218.50. Prices have tumbled $49.40, or 3.9%, since Feb. 27 when they last ended up and scored a 3-1/2-month high.
Elsewhere, silver for May delivery fell 23.8 cents, or 1.4%, to finish at $17.298 an ounce. The settlement is the weakest since Jan. 30. Silver futures traded between $17.24 and $17.57. They lost 1.3% on Tuesday and climbed 0.2% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum dropped $11.60, or 1.2%, to $949.50 an ounce, ranging from $948.20 to $965.50.
- Palladium for June delivery shed $4.60, or 0.6%, to $770.40 an ounce, trading between $765.50 and $774.75.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $7.45, or 0.6%, to $1,209.20 an ounce.
- Silver declined 30 cents, or 1.7%, to $17.40 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 2017
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2017 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 3,500 | 21,000 | 3,500 | 111,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 0 | 24,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 40,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 10,000 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 165,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 15,000 | 500 | 47,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 450,000 | 280,000 | 1,215,000 | 280,000 | 6,622,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 200 | 0 | 19,500 | 0 | 19,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | |||||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | |||||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | |||||
| 2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
