Most precious metals futures ended lower Monday as gold and silver prices settled at more than three-week lows.
Gold for December delivery fell $14.40, or 1.1%, to finish at $1,310.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close is the weakest since Aug. 25.
"There was a lot of speculative froth in the gold market which seems to have receded now," Reuters quoted Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch. "Expectations that the Fed will raise U.S. interest rates argue for a correction here."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,308.10 to a high of $1,324. They declined last week by 1.9% for their first weekly loss in four weeks.
Ending lower for a sixth straight session, silver for December delivery tumbled 54.5 cents, or 3.1%, to end at $17.156 an ounce. The close is also the weakest since Aug. 25. Silver futures ranged from $17.11 to $17.68. They fell 2.3% last week.
In other metal prices on Monday:
-
October platinum lost $10.70, or 1.1%, to $961.10 an ounce, trading between $959.40 and $972.10.
- Palladium for December delivery tacked on $8.70, or 0.9%, to $930.45 an ounce, ranging from $917 to $934.80.
Both metals registered losses last week that reached 4% for platinum and 1% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold declined $10.75 or 0.8%, to 1,312.10 an ounce.
- Silver lost 17 cents, or 1%, to $17.53 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
Last week, London bullion prices declined by 1.7% for gold, 2.8% for silver, 3.7% for platinum and 2.2% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:40 p.m. ET. The U.S. Mint on Monday did announce the Sept. 25 launch of its new bullion American Palladium Eagle. The 1-ounce, .9995 fine Palladium Eagle will be released to the Mint’s bullion distributors on an allocated basis with 2017 sales limited to its initial, undisclosed inventory.
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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | August | September | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 6,500 | 4,000 | 166,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 54,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 320,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 50,000 | 1,025,000 | 75,000 | 15,653,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 40,000 | 0 | 40,000 |
