Precious metals futures ended mixed Thursday, with gold, silver and platinum down for a second day in a row after climbing for three straight.
Gold for August delivery lost $13.70, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,279.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"One of the big drivers behind gold’s move is the dollar catching a little bit of its footing … if you look at the way gold is trading, until it breaks out of that recent trend around the $1,270-$1,275 area and get back into $1,260s it’s hard to be bearish," Reuters quoted Joshua Graves, markets strategist at RJO Futures.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,273.50 to a high of $1,291.50. They slipped 0.3% on Wednesday, advanced 1.2% on Tuesday — closing at their highest level since Nov. 4, and climbed 0.2% on Monday.
Meanwhile, silver for July delivery dropped 20.6 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $17.414 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.28 and $17.68. They declined 0.5% on Wednesday, gained 0.7% on Tuesday — ending at their best price since April 24, and moved up 0.3% in their start to the week on Monday.
In rounding out precious metals dealings:
-
July platinum fell $9.50, or 1%, to $938.10 an ounce, ranging from $935.50 to $949.90.
- Palladium for September delivery jumped $18.30, or 2.2%, to $846.50 an ounce, trading between $826.75 and $851.25.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $17.90, or 1.4%, to $1,273.10 an ounce.
- Silver was unchanged at $17.60 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week / June | May | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 0 | 10,000 | 137,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 48,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 245,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 500 | 500 | 5,000 | 64,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 300,000 | 229,000 | 2,455,000 | 11,476,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 100 | 2,000 | 5,600 | 28,200 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,400 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | N/A | 17,200 | N/A/ | 17,200 |
