Gold prices fell modestly Monday as the U.S. dollar emerged stronger, triggering a bit of profit-taking following sharp gains last week.
"People are in a risk-off mode today," Rick Trotman, a senior research analyst at MLV & Co. in New York, said in a telephone interview cited on Businessweek. "The dollar’s strength is acting against gold."
Gold prices edged down $1.00, or 0.1%, to $1,734.40 an ounce in the April futures contract on the Comex in New York. Gold traded between an intraday low of $1,718.80 and a high of $1,742.80.
"Practically every news poll conducted over the past few days concluded that Greece and its private creditors might reach an agreement this week (perhaps even today) and that following such a handshake between the parties the country would commence discussions for a second, 145 billion euro-large bailout," noted Jon Nadler, Senior Analyst at Kitco Metals Inc.
"Alas, things ran into a bit of trouble on the ‘conceptual’ side of the bailout issue as Greece flat-out rejected a call for ‘others’ (read: Germany, mostly) to have a say-so over its budgetary decisions down the road," said Nadler, adding:
"Greek officials have termed such control as being tantamount to their country giving up its sovereignty. Thus, the enthusiasm that helped propel gold to a seven-week high late last week and pushed the US dollar lower as investors embraced risk was dealt a bit of a setback."
Silver prices for March delivery declined 26.3 cents, or 0.8%, to $33.527 an ounce. Prices moved from $33.035 to $34.015.
Platinum prices for April delivery fell $6.70, or 0.4%, to $1,616.30 an ounce, ranging from $1,601.60 to $1,625.80.
Palladium prices for March delivery lost $1.65 or 0.2%, to $688.50 an ounce, trading between $679.55 and $692.90.
Last week, gold rose 4.1%, silver surged 6.7%, platinum rallied 5.9% and palladium gained 2.1%.
London Precious Metals
London precious metals were mixed. In comparing London PM fixings between Friday and Monday, gold advanced $3.00 to $1,729.00 an ounce, silver retreated 30.0 cents to $33.18 an ounce, platinum declined $5.00 to $1,603.00 an ounce and palladium remained unchanged at $684.00 an ounce
U.S. Mint Bullion Coins – Silver Eagles Over 6 Million
U.S. Mint bullion Silver Eagles surged 385,000 Monday, which was just 15,000 short of matching last week’s entire gain. More relevant, January sales of Silver Eagles surpassed 6 million and now stand 340,000 away from equaling the all-time monthly record of 6.422 million sold in January 2011.
Other bullion coin advances on Monday included the one ounce American Gold Eagle, up 1,500, and the American Gold Buffalo, up 1,000.
The latest daily, weekly, and year-to-date sales of U.S. Mint bullion coins follow:
| Sales of U.S. Mint American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coins | ||
|---|---|---|
| Daily Gains | January/YTD 2012 | |
| American Gold Eagle Coin (1 oz.) | 1,500 | 81,000 |
| American Gold Eagle Coin (1/2 oz.) | 0 | 49,000 |
| American Gold Eagle Coin (1/4 oz.) | 0 | 38,000 |
| American Gold Eagle Coin (1/10 oz.) | 0 | 75,000 |
| American Gold Buffalo Coin (1 oz.) | 1,000 | 12,000 |
| American Silver Eagles | 385,000 | 6,082,000 |
| Sales of America the Beautiful 5 Oz. Silver Bullion Coins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prior Weekly | Weekly Gains | All-Time Total | |
| Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 84,600 |
| Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Coin | 1,000 | 0 | 37,300 |
| Chickasaw Park 5 oz. Silver Coin | 700 | 0 | 28,100 |
| TOTAL | 1,700 | 0 | 150,000 |
All bullion coin totals in the above tables are in the number of coins sold, not the amount of ounces. The U.S. Mint does not publish daily sales figures for its five-ounce silver coins. The latest five-ounce sales were provided on Friday, January 27, 2012.
