Gold futures fell for a second session in a row Tuesday, closing at a more than 2-week low. Silver, meanwhile, ended at a 5-week low. The two metals just last week posted more than 5-month highs.
Gold for June delivery shed $10.30, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,267.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since April 10.
"We’ve moved from having multiple numbers of positive drivers for gold last week when yields were on the defensive and we had multiple geopolitical risks," Reuters quoted Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank. "But now with the French election (first round) behind us, there is a bit of a surge of risk-on coming back to the market. The main worry was a strong performance by Le Pen."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,262.80 to a high of $1,279.90. They declined 0.9% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver futures for May delivery lost 26.7 cents, or 1.5%, to settle at $17.591 an ounce. The close is the weakest since March 22. Silver futures traded between $17.52 and $17.98. In the previous session, they edged up less than a half-cent for their first daily increase in five sessions.
In rounding out precious metals futures trading:
-
July platinum fell $2.60, or 0.3%, to $957.60 an ounce, ranging from $952 to $967.50.
- Palladium added $1.20, or 0.2%, to $796.65 an ounce, trading between $788.50 and $799.30.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $1.60, or 0.1%, to $1,267.80 an ounce.
- Silver added 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.84 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 as of 4:22 p.m. ET. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Mar Sales | April 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 | 0 | 500 | 16,000 | 3,000 | 126,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 46,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 20,000 | 210,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 8,500 | 3,000 | 58,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 220,000 | 235,000 | 1,615,000 | 835,000 | 8,792,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 300 | 0 | 200 | 900 | 20,600 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 4,200 | 1,400 | N/A | 17,600 | 17,600 |
