Precious metals futures were mostly little changed Thursday. Gold was alone with gains, rising less than 0.1%.
Gold for December delivery inched up 80 cents to settle at $1,278.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Right now, we see prices supported above $1,270 until perhaps a week from now. But beyond that, when the Fed meets in December, we expect one more rate hike," Reuters quoted OCBC analyst Barnabas Gan. "On that note, we are still bearish on gold and expect prices to touch $1,250 at year-end, underpinned by the rate hike."
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,274 to a high of $1,282.50. They climbed 0.5% on Wednesday, declined 0.6% on Tuesday — ending the month of October 1.1% lower, and rose 0.5% on Monday.
Silver for December delivery shed 3.9 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $17.137 an ounce. Silver futures ranged between $17.07 and $17.23. They rallied 2.9% on Wednesday — closing at their highest price since Oct. 19, declined 0.9% on Tuesday and gained 0.6% on Monday.
In other precious metals futures on Thursday:
-
January platinum dropped $8.90, or 1%, to $927.80 an ounce, trading between $930.70 and $937.90.
- Palladium for December delivery lost $4.15, or 0.4%, to $994 an ounce, ranging from $988 to $1,003.80.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold rose $2.15, or 0.2%, to 1,279.20 an ounce.
- Silver added 14 cents, or 0.8%, to $17.08 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 2:24 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 / November | Last Week | 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 11,000 | 181,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 32,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 58,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 30,000 | 360,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 1,500 | 7,000 | 83,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 250,000 | 40,000 | 1,040,000 | 16,938,500 |
| 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 |
