Precious metals futures climbed for a second day in a row Thursday with gains of 1.8% for palladium and 0.7% each for gold, silver and platinum.
Gold for December delivery tacked on $9.50 to settle at $1,292.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is likely to breach USD 1,300/oz as the market prices in a less hawkish Fed, particularly in a risk-off environment," Reuters quoted analysts at Standard Chartered.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,286.40 to a high of $1,296. They climbed 0.3% in the previous session, slipped 0.8% on Tuesday and declined 0.3% in their start to the week on Monday.
Silver for September delivery added 11.3 cents to settle at $17.053 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $16.96 to $17.18. They advanced 1.4% on Wednesday, tumbled 2.4% on Tuesday and gained 0.3% on Monday to settle at their best level since June 14.
In other precious metals futures prices:
-
October platinum rose $7.20 to $981.70 an ounce, trading between $974.30 and $985.10.
- Palladium for September delivery rallied $15.95 to $926.15 an ounce, ranging from $917.20 to $932. The close was the highest since early 2001.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold gained $12.40, or 1%, to 1,285.15 an ounce.
- Silver jumped 34 cents, or 2%, to $17.02 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
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:36 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | July | August | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 13,500 | 4,500 | 160,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 28,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | 290,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 6,000 | 2,000 | 74,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 110,000 | 125,000 | 2,320,000 | 235,000 | 14,788,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
