Gold, Silver and Palladium Gain for Week Ended Oct. 18

In futures trading action Friday, gold, silver and palladium declined while platinum climbed. For the week, however, platinum was alone with a loss.

Gold for December delivery on Friday shed $4.20, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,494.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Gold is finding comfort within a $20 trading range as investors remain cautiously optimistic over the United States and China finalizing a ‘phase one’ trade agreement," Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM, told MarketWatch. "Gold is positioned to remain range-bound until a fresh directional catalyst is brought into the picture."

"A sense of optimism surrounding the current Brexit developments is also impacting appetite for the safe-haven metal," he said.

Gold futures traded 0.4% higher this week after falling 1.6% last week. They have surged 16.6% on the year to date.

In looking ahead to next week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street & Main Street surveys:

"This week, 14 market professionals took part in the Wall Street survey. Seven analysts or 50% said they see lower prices next week. Two analysts, or 14%, predicted gold would rise. The remaining five voters, or 36%, saw a sideways market or else were neutral.

Meanwhile, 876 respondents took part in an online Main Street poll. A total of 490 voters, or 56%, called for gold to rise. Another 214, or 24%, predicted gold would fall. The remaining 172 voters, or 20%, saw a sideways market."

Elsewhere, silver for December delivery declined 3.4 cents, or 0.2%, to close at $17.578 an ounce. Silver futures edged up 0.2% this week — their first weekly increase in four weeks. They have advanced 13.1% on the year.

In PGM futures on Friday and for the week:

• January platinum rose $2.90, or 0.3%, to finish at $895.90 an ounce, reducing their weekly loss to 0.5%.

• Palladium for December delivery dropped $13.10, or 0.8%, to settle at $1,717.60 an ounce, but still logged a 2.8% weekly increase. On Wednesday, they scored a record settlement of $1,735 an ounce.

Both metals are higher on the year with gains of 11.9% for platinum and 43.5% for palladium.

London Precious Metals Prices

London precious metals prices ended mostly lower on Friday and mixed on the week. In comparing their latest day-over-day PM prices:

• Gold declined $2.65, or 0.2%, to $1,490 an ounce.
• Silver fell 1.5 cents, or 0.09%, to $17.435 an ounce.
• Platinum was unchanged at $886 an ounce.

In LBMA weekly results, gold rose 0.7%, silver slipped 0.9%, and platinum declined 0.2%.

US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales

United States Mint bullion sales improved this week from last. In week-over-week comparisons:

• Gold bullion sales added 8,500 ounces this week after rising by 3,500 ounces last week. This week, splits included 5,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 3,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos. Last week, American Gold Eagles accounted for all the gold sales.

• American Silver Eagles rose by 408,500 ounces after advancing by 255,000 ounces previously.

• Five-ounce America the Beautiful silver coin sales increased by 500 units, or 2,500 ounces, after climbing last week by 13,000 units, or 65,000 ounces.

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.