Precious metals logged narrow changes Tuesday as gold and platinum each gained 0.2% while palladium advanced 0.3% and silver lost 0.2%.
Gold for December delivery edged up $3.10 to close at $1,734.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Prices traded between intraday levels of $1,728.00 and $1,740.50. The yellow metal was supported by a weaker U.S. dollar and expectations for another round of stimulus from the Fed, opined analysts.
"The overwhelming consensus is in favor of more (quantitative easing) in a significant way. Let’s assume that happens. Gold is going to go higher and $1,800 looks very likely in the short term, but partly because the inflation risks are higher than they were," Daniel Smith, an analyst at Standard Chartered, said according to Reuters.
"The dollar is always partly driving these things, so obviously the massive weakness has tended to lift everything … Investors are still very keen on gold. That is the key thing, even though the moves are not as volatile as those that you see in things like silver," he said.
The Fed’s monthly monetary policy meeting begins Wednesday and ends on Thursday.
"It is the quiet before the storm, which is the Fed on Thursday," MarketWatch quoted Matt Zeman, a senior market strategist at Kingsview Financial in Chicago. "Markets are going to bide their time till the Fed."
In other New York futures prices:
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Silver for December delivery slipped modestly for a second straight day, falling 6.7 cents to $33.566 an ounce. Silver ranged from an intraday low of $33.380 to a high of $33.875.
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Rising for a seventh consecutive session, platinum for October delivery closed at $1,607.00 an ounce for an increase of $3.20. Platinum moved between $1,588.80 and $1,612.50.
- Also higher for a seventh session, palladium for December delivery added $2.15 to $674.90 an ounce. It traded between $667.25 and $678.95.
London Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals moved in the same direction as New York futures. When comparing London PM Fix prices:
- Gold gained $4.75, or 0.3%, to $1,736.75 an ounce,
- Silver declined 8.0 cents, or 0.2%, to $33.52 an ounce,
- Platinum advanced $13.00, or 0.8%, to $1,606.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium gained $14.00, or 2.1%, to $675.00 an ounce
U.S. Mint Bullion Coins
Following strong gains on Monday, sales levels for U.S. Mint bullion coins were unchanged Tuesday as of 3:53 p.m. ET. The following grid offers the latest daily, September and year-to-date bullion sales as published by the United States Mint.
| Sales of US Mint American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Gains | September Gains | YTD 2012 | |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Coins | 0 | 19,000 | 366,500 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Coins | 0 | 0 | 59,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Coins | 0 | 0 | 58,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 225,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 90,500 |
| American Silver Eagle Coins | 0 | 989,000 | 23,529,000 |
| Sales of America the Beautiful 5 Oz. Silver Bullion Coins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Gains | September Gains | All-Time Total | |
| 2012 El Yunque National Forest 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 16,700 |
| 2012 Chaco Culture National Historical Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 17,000 |
| 2012 Acadia National Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 15,100 |
| 2012 Hawai’i Volcanoes 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 7,900 | 7,900 |
| 2011 Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 85,900 |
| 2011 Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 39,500 |
| 2011 Chickasaw Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 29,700 |
| TOTAL | 0 | 0 | 211,800 |
All sales figures above are in the number of coins sold, not the amount of ounces sold.
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