Precious metals futures divided Tuesday, the first trading day of October, with gold and silver rising and platinum and palladium falling.
Gold for December delivery tacked on $16.10, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,489 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,465 to a high of $1,493.50. They dropped 2.2% on Monday, ending 3.7% lower in September while surging 4.2% in the third quarter.
"Monday’s quarter-end sell off in gold was ugly but not surprising," Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told MarketWatch. "Gold is increasingly sensitive to the outlook for interest rates, moving higher when ever-more bond yields fall below zero."
"Investors and traders who left their profit-taking too late might now regret rushing out" Monday, said Ash.
Silver for December delivery rose 30.4 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $17.302 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.94 and $17.38. They tumbled 3.7% on Monday, closing September with a 7.3% loss while gaining 10.8% in the third quarter.
In other precious metals futures prices on Tuesday:
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January platinum dipped $3.10, or 0.4%, to $886.10 an ounce, ranging from $879.30 to $893.80.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $16.80, or 1%, to $1,630.70 an ounce, trading between $1,621 and $1,653.80. On Friday, palladium registered a record settlement at $1,652.90 an ounce.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $11.85, or 0.8%, to $1,473.45 an ounce.
- Silver fell 14.5 cents, or 0.8%, to $17.11 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
United States Mint bullion products moved up by a combined 2,500 ounces in gold coins and by 280,00 ounces in silver coins.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint 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 / October | Last Week | This Week | September | 2019 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,500 | 500 | 1,500 | 3,500 | 91,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 24,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 32,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 175,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 50,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 280,000 | 50,000 | 565,000 | 1,021,000 | 13,570,000 |
| San Antonio Missions 5 Oz Silver Coin** | 0 | N/A | 37,700 | 37,700 | 37,700 |
| War in the Pacific 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 72,000 |
| American Memorial Park 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 |
| Lowell 5 Oz Silver Coin* | N/A | 80,000 | |||
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | N/A | 40,000 | |||
**The U.S. Mint adjusted sales of the newly released San Antonio Missions coin to 37,700 units from 111,000 units.
