Precious metals declined together on Wednesday, with losses ranging from 0.3% for gold to 3.4% for palladium.
Gold for April delivery shed $5.50 to settle at $2,034.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Technically, April gold futures bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a 2.5-month-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the February high of $2,083.20," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $2,030.90 and $2,043.50. They rose by 0.8% at the start of the trading week on Tuesday. Of note, last Wednesday, gold at $2,004.30 an ounce registered its lowest settlement since Dec. 13.
Down for a second time after three sessions of exceptional gains, March silver gave back 26.2 cents, or 1.1%, to end at $22.874 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $22.79 to $23.22. On Tuesday, they fell by 1.4%.
In other precious metals prices on Wednesday:
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April platinum dropped by $24.70, or 2.7%, to $889.60 an ounce, trading between $886.80 and $916.20.
- Palladium for March delivery lost $33.40 to $949.90 an ounce, ranging from $928.50 to $993.50.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
The published U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Thursday, with gains including 5,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 5,000 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday / This Week | Last Week | January | February | 2024 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,500 | 87,500 | 6,500 | 94,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 0 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 46,000 | 4,000 | 50,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 115,000 | 25,000 | 140,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 46,500 | 5,500 | 52,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 4,900,000 | 850,000 | 5,750,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
