Precious metals futures ended mixed Tuesday with gold posting a more than one-week high while silver fell to a four-week low.
Gold for December delivery inched up 50 cents, or less than 0.1%, to end at $1,294.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the strongest since Nov. 17.
"Gold held its own and finished near steady Tuesday amid a rally in the competing asset class of equities that saw the U.S. stock indexes push to record highs," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily report.
"World stock markets were also mostly higher Tuesday. The general strength in world equity markets continues to keep quite a bit of investor monies away from the precious metals markets," Wyckoff added.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,290.10 to a high of $1,297. They advanced 0.6% on Monday.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery fell 19.8 cents, or 1.2%, to settle at $16.822 an ounce. The close is the weakest since Oct. 31. Silver futures ranged from $16.72 to $17.08. They edged up 0.2% in the previous session.
In rounding out precious metals trading:
-
January platinum added $2, or 0.2%, to $952.80 an ounce, trading between $948.20 and $959.20.
- Palladium for March delivery jumped $20.15, or 2%, to $1,020.65 an ounce, ranging from $994.80 to $1,023.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $3.05, or 0.2%, to 1,291.85 an ounce.
- Silver lost 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.07 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 grew by a combined 2,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and by 40,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
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 | October | November | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1 Oz Palladium Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 11,000 | 9,500 | 190,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 34,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 60,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 10,000 | 370,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 7,000 | 2,000 | 85,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 40,000 | 30,000 | 90,000 | 1,040,000 | 385,000 | 17,323,500 |
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| 2017 George Rogers Clark 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | N/A | 32,400 | 32,400 |
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