All precious metals except palladium advanced on Friday, contributing to their weekly gains. Gold experienced its best weekly increase since early April.
Continuing its fourth consecutive day of gains, gold for August delivery edged up by 60 cents, or 0.03%, to close at $1,964.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Similar to the previous two sessions, this settlement marked gold’s highest since June 16.
"With inflation backing off, anticipation of further rate hikes has slightly declined, helping gold this week," Reuters quoted Daniel Pavilonis, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
"Prices are going to be range-bound near term. If the Fed begins to say we don’t need to raise rates any further, we can see gold rise further."
Gold prices rose by 1.7% this week, representing their best weekly gain since the one ending on April 6. This comes after a 0.3% dip last week. Year to date, they have increased by 7.6%.
Looking forward to the upcoming week, Kitco News offers the following forecasts via their Wall Street vs. Main Street surveys:
"This week, 20 Wall Street analysts participated in the Kitco News Gold Survey. There was a tie among the participants, with nine analysts, or 45%, seeing higher and sideways prices next week, respectively. At the same time, two analysts, or 10%, were bearish on gold in the near term.
Meanwhile, 592 votes were cast in online polls. Of these, 363 respondents, or 61%, looked for gold to rise next week. Another 148, or 25%, said it would be lower, while 81 voters, or 14%, were neutral in the near term.
Extending its consecutive winning streak to three sessions, silver for September gained 24.5 cents, or 1%, to close at $25.194 an ounce. This settlement marked the highest price since May 10.
Silver prices rallied by 8.2% this week, following gains of 1.2% last week and 3% in the week ending June 30. Year to date, they have increased by 4.8%.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and throughout the week:
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October platinum inched up by 90 cents, or 0.09%, to end at $984.30 an ounce, marking its highest closing price since June 16. Platinum prices soared by 7.2% this week.
- Palladium for September delivery declined by $25.40, or 2%, to settle at $1,266.40 an ounce, reducing its weekly gain to 1.7%.
Reviewing their performance since the beginning of the year, platinum has fallen by 9.1%, and palladium has dropped by 29.6%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Earlier this week, on Tuesday, the U.S. Mint reported the first bullion sales gains for the month and published updated figures for June. Since then, there have been no further reports of bullion sales.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Last Week | Week / July | March | April | May | June | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 12,000 | 211,000 | 159,500 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 637,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,500 | 73,000 | 61,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 279,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 414,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 10,138,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7,500 | 500 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 12,700 |
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