Precious metals were divided in their kick off to the new trading week on Monday with platinum and palladium rising and gold and silver falling.
Gold for August delivery declined $5.50, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,225.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"We’re seeing a bid in the dollar that’s driving the gold low today, but we do think the dollar is set to weaken going forward, so we do see gold trading higher on the near term, two to three months outlook," Reuters quoted Daniel Ghali, commodities strategist at TD Securities.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,222.20 to a high of $1,235.20. They declined 0.8% last week. On Thursday, they posted their lowest close since July 13, 2017.
Silver for September fell 12.4 cents, or 0.8%, to end at $15.425 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $15.35 to $15.58. They dropped 1.7% last week, for their sixth straight weekly decline. On Thursday, they logged their lowest settlement since April 8, 2016.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
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October platinum rose $1.50, or 0.2%, to $831 an ounce, trading between $825.90 and $838.
- Palladium for September delivery advanced $13.70, or 1.5%, to $902.60 an ounce, ranging from $875.60 to $908.80.
Last week they registered respectively losses of 0.1% and 4.7%.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold fell $3.80, or 0.3%, to 1,224.95 an ounce.
- Silver rose 11.5 cents, or 0.8%, to $15.485 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
In LBMA results last week, they logged declines totaling 1% for gold, 2.8% for silver, 0.8% for platinum, and 5.5% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2018
United States Mint bullion sales rose by 190,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles and a combined 2,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles.
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 | Last Week | June | July | 2018 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,500 | 11,000 | 21,500 | 25,000 | 112,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 18,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 50,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 20,000 | 15,000 | 25,000 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 7,500 | 6,500 | 18,500 | 72,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 190,000 | 180,000 | 435,000 | 735,000 | 7,557,500 |
| Pictured Rocks 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Apostle Islands 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 |
| Voyageurs 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | 30,000 |
