Gold and silver futures slipped slightly Tuesday, marking their second straight day of losses after scoring respective annual and more than twenty-week highs. The metals were pressured, opined analysts, as investors looked to riskier bets.
Gold for December delivery shed $3, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,332.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"It looks like speculators who had established positions to take advantage of a possible rise in risk aversion, were left disappointed as North Korea did not conduct another missile test at the weekend," Reuters quoted Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for Forex.com.
"From a technical stand point, gold’s weakness also makes sense, but so far it can only be interpreted as a mere pullback from overbought levels, rather than trend reversal."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,326.70 to a high of $1,336.30. They declined 1.1% in their start to the trading week on Monday. On Friday, they settled at their highest point since Sept. 6, 2016.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery dipped 1.2 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $17.89 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.78 and $17.98. On Monday, they slipped by 1.2%. They closed on Friday at their strongest price since April 19.
In other precious metals futures prices on Tuesday:
-
October platinum declined $12.30, or 1.2%, to $986.50 an ounce, ranging from $983.60 to $994.50.
- Palladium for December delivery tacked on $11.75, or 1.3%, to $943.40 an ounce, trading between $929.10 and $953.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold fell $7.70 or 0.6%, to 1,326.50 an ounce.
- Silver dropped a dime, or 0.6%, to $17.75 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 Tuesday. 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 | Last Week | This Week | August | September | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 6,500 | 4,000 | 166,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 54,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 320,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 1,025,000 | 75,000 | 15,653,500 |
| 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 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 500 | 0 | 39,500 | 500 | 40,000 |
