Precious metals futures kicked off the new trading week on Monday with modest losses. Gold and silver posted their third straight session declines with the former ending near a two-week low.
Gold for August delivery dipped $2, or about 0.2%, to settle at $1,297.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close is the lowest since May 23.
"Early gains in the safe-haven metal were lost when the U.S. dollar index rebounded from solid losses overnight and was trading just slightly lower at midday today," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report.
"A solid rally in the U.S. stock market today, with the indexes hitting multi-week highs, also was a bearish element for the precious metals markets today, as it showed keener risk appetite is present in the world marketplace at present," Wyckoff added
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,293.80 to a high of $1,302.30. They slipped 0.3% last week.
Silver for July delivery dropped a penny, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $16.431 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.38 and $16.56. They dipped 0.6% last week.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
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July platinum fell $3.20, or 0.4%, to $903.50 an ounce, ranging from $900 to $911.
- Palladium for September delivery lost $2.30, or 0.2%, to $994.30 an ounce, trading between $988.50 and $1,004.40.
The two metals logged gains last week — 0.6% for platinum and 2% for palladium.
London Precious Metals Prices
LBMA bullion prices are available on the LBMA website with a delay of midnight.
Last week in LBMA results, palladium climbed 1.3% while the others recorded declines reaching 0.7% for fold, 1.5% for silver, and 0.6% for platinum.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion coins logged their first sales gains of the month on Monday. Advances included 50,000 in American Silver Eagles and 5,000 in American Gold Buffalos.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / June | Last Week | April | May | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 30,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 18,500 | 66,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18,000 | 44,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 110,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 16,500 | 52,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 50,000 | 0 | 915,000 | 380,000 | 6,437,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Apostle Islands 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | 30,000 |
