Precious metals turned higher on Tuesday, following losses in the prior day, with advances that ranged from 0.7% for platinum to 1% for both silver and palladium. Gains in gold and silver were their first in four sessions.
Gold for August delivery moved inched up by $1.50, or 0.08%, to settle at $1,963.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is expected to be in a range-bound trade before the Fed decision. But there is optimism here that the Fed is almost done with rate hikes and that will support the market," Reuters quoted Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA.
Tuesday marked the start of the Fed’s FOMC two-day monetary policy meeting for July.
On the day, gold futures traded between $1,951.60 and $1,967.10, after sliding 0.2% on Monday.
Silver for September tacked on 24.3 cents and closed at $24.824 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $24.45 and $24.91, after falling by 1.1% on Monday.
In other precious metals prices on Tuesday:
-
October platinum added $7.10 to $976.60 an ounce, ranging from $966.30 to $986.10.
- Palladium for September delivery rose by $12.40 to $1,281.20 an ounce, trading between $1,268 and $1,298.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint reported bullion sales gains for only the second time this month. 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) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Last Week | This Week | April | May | June | July | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 24,000 | 159,500 | 60,500 | 35,000 | 36,000 | 661,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 18,000 | 1,000 | 0 | 73,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,000 | 32,000 | 4,000 | 0 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 | 80,000 | 60,000 | 0 | 385,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 11,000 | 61,000 | 47,000 | 17,000 | 13,500 | 290,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 790,000 | 900,000 | 1,593,000 | 1,482,000 | 1,240,000 | 10,928,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 500 | 1,200 | 3,500 | 0 | 12,700 |
