Precious metals advanced as a group Wednesday. Gains ranged from 0.8% for gold to 4.3% for palladium. The latter registered another new record, its fourth in five sessions.
Gold for June delivery tacked on $14.70 to settle at $1,793.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"A growing sense of unease over the surging COVID-19 cases in Asia has hit risk sentiment and left investors on edge," Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM, told MarketWatch. "With concerns likely to rise over how this may impact the world’s economic rebound from COVID-19, gold has the potential to push higher as risk-off makes a return."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,776.60 to a high of $1,798.40. They rose 0.4% on Tuesday and they fell 0.5% on Monday.
Logging its sixth increase in seven sessions, silver for May delivery soared 73 cents, or 2.8%, to settle at $26.57 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $25.79 and $26.73. They edged 0.01% higher on Tuesday and they dropped 1% on Monday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
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July platinum added $18.40, or 1.5%, to $1,214.70 an ounce, ranging from $1,186.30 to $1,222.
- Palladium for June delivery surged $118.20 to $2,875.60 an ounce — a record settlement, trading between $2,745.50 and $2,892.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday. 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) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | February Sales | March Sales | April Sales | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,500 | 8,500 | 121,000 | 55,500 | 28,000 | 395,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9,000 | 0 | 0 | 31,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 56,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 0 | 150,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 500 | 16,000 | 33,500 | 9,000 | 120,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 457,000 | 0 | 3,191,500 | 4,087,000 | 1,053,000 | 13,106,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | 35,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 50,000 | 50,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
