In futures trading Thursday, palladium gained while gold, silver and platinum declined. Losses in gold and silver brought them to respective settlement lows of more than three months and to over five weeks.
Gold for December delivery dropped $26.70, or 1.8%, to close at $1,466.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Aug. 2.
“The optimism around potential agreement or the phase one agreement (in U.S.-China trade) is seeing some of the safe-haven flows starting to ease and some profit taking emerging on the back of that," Reuters quoted Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered Bank.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,461.40 to a high of $1,493.60. They rose 0.6% on Wednesday, fell 1.8% on Tuesday, and dipped 0.02% on Monday.
Silver for December delivery sank 58.8 cents, or 3.3%, to end at $17.01 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since Sept. 30. Silver futures traded between $16.91 and $17.65. They inched 0.2% higher on Wednesday, tumbled 2.8% on Tuesday, and edged 0.08% higher on Monday.
In other precious metals futures prices on Thursday:
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January platinum lost $17.70, or 1.9%, to $914 an ounce, ranging from $907.10 to $938.10.
- Palladium for December delivery gained $16.70, or 1%, to $1,777.80 an ounce, trading between $1,756.30 and $1,782.50. A week ago Wednesday, Oct. 30, palladium posted a record settlement of $1,792.10 an ounce.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $1.80, or 0.1%, to $1,484.25 an ounce.
- Silver lost a penny, or 0.06%, to $17.53 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 sales were unchanged Thursday. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week / November | September | October | 2019 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,500 | 8,000 | 98,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 27,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 34,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 190,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 3,000 | 55,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 167,000 | 165,000 | 1,021,000 | 1,110,500 | 14,565,500 |
| San Antonio Missions 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37,700 | 17,500 | 55,200 |
| War in the Pacific 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 500 | 72,500 |
| American Memorial Park 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 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 | ||||
