Gold and silver futures posted their fifth set of declines in six sessions Tuesday, although the losses were easily the smallest of the bunch.
Gold for December delivery edged down $1.20, or less than 0.1%, to close at $1,274.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Aug. 8 when prices ended at $1,262.60 an ounce.
"The factors that pushed gold towards $1,360 in early September are now reversing," Reuters quoted Julius Baer analyst Carsten Menke. "The U.S. dollar and yields have rebounded from their recent lows and it looks like positioning in the gold futures market is somewhat reversing, with some long covering and new shorts."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,271 to a high of $1,277.40. They declined 0.7% on Monday.
Silver for December delivery dipped less than a half cent to settle at $16.65 an ounce. The settlement is also the lowest since Aug. 8, when the white metal ended at $16.389 an ounce. Silver futures ranged between $16.57 and $16.69. They declined 1% in the previous session.
In rounding out precious metals futures dealings:
-
January platinum lost $1.10, or 0.1%, to $915.50 an ounce, trading between $909.80 and $919.30.
- Palladium for December delivery rose $5.60, or 0.6%, to $916.90 an ounce, ranging from $904.30 to $919.45.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $2.45, or 0.2%, to 1,271.25 an ounce.
- Silver added 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $16.61 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 bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:27 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 | Last Week | September | This Week / October | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 171,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 0 | 330,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 500 | 77,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 195,000 | 320,000 | 100,000 | 15,998,500 |
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
