Gold, platinum and palladium finished lower for a second straight day while silver advanced its losing streak to four sessions.
Gold for December delivery settled down $14.40, or 1.1%, to $1,243.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold prices traded from a low of $1,235.80 to a high of $1,250.
Gold’ settlement price was the lowest since July 8, though it was a tad higher than the low hit during after-hours trade on Wednesday after the release of minutes from the Fed’s last policy meeting.
"The U.S. Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee minutes were deemed somewhat hawkish by the market place and that helped to sink the gold and silver markets," said Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, in a daily note.
"However, there is still a large contingent of market watchers who said the latest FOMC minutes revealed not much new and said any Fed tapering move will first have to see better U.S. jobs data."
Silver for December delivery shed 12.4 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $19.93 an ounce. Prices ranged from $19.71 to $20.05.
In PGM futures on Thursday:
-
January platinum declined $7.90, or 0.6%, to $1,391.70 an ounce, trading between $1,388.80 and $1,402.
- Palladium for December delivery inched down 60 cents to $713.25 an ounce, ranging from $711.30 to $720.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings fell, except for palladium which remained unchanged. In contrasting the Wednesday PM to Thursday PM London fix prices:
- Gold lost $17, or 1.4%, to $1,240 an ounce,
- Silver dropped 27 cents, or 1.3%, to $19.97 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $11, or 0.8%, to $1,393 an ounce, and
- Palladium was flat at $715 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in November
On Monday, all U.S. Mint bullion options advanced. On Tuesday, sales increased for all but one of the Mint’s silver bullion coins. On Wednesday and Thursday, sales climbed for the Mint’s one-ounce gold coins. Sales breakouts for the day, week-to-date, for the month through Nov. 19, and the year-to-date are listed below.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | November Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 2,500 | 10,000 | 10,500 | 31,000 | 677,000 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 58,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 118,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 | 520,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 500 | 5,000 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 226,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | |||
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 600 | 100 | 700 | 26,900 |
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 600 | 200 | 800 | 28,000 |
| Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 400 | 400 | 1,800 | 30,000 |
| Mount Rushmore 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 19,100 | 3,800 | 28,900 | 28,900 |
| American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 500,000 | 500,000 | 1,500,000 | 40,675,000 |
