Gold declined modestly in thin pre-holiday trading Monday after rising on Friday from a three-year low. U.S. markets will be open for a half-day on Tuesday and closed Wednesday for Christmas.
Gold for February delivery retreated $6.70, or 0.6%, to close at $1,197 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. In extremely light trading action — likely to be the case most of this week, gold prices ranged from a low of $1,191.80 to a high of $1,205.60.
The "$1,180 an ounce is the major level, so if it breaks below that then it’s really just a question of how much further it can drop," Steven Dooley, the head of research, said by phone from Melbourne, according to Bloomberg News.
"I would argue that there is support at $1,190 … but there may be more downside as it doesn’t take much to move the market in thin holiday trading," Reuters quoted Andrey Kryuchenkov, analyst at Moscow-based commodities broker VTB Capital.
Gold fell 2.5% last week as the Fed’s tapering news pressured commodities.
In other precious metals futures on Monday:
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Silver for March delivery shed 3.7 cents, or 0.2%, to $19.41 an ounce, ranging from $19.27 to $19.52.
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January platinum dipped $4.80, or 0.4%, to $1,327.40 an ounce, trading between $1,325.40 and $1,340.
- Palladium for March delivery lost $3.10, or 0.4%, to $695.65 an ounce, ranging from $693.15 to $703.15.
Last week, losses among the three metals totaled 0.8% for silver, 2.3% for platinum and 2.4% for palladium.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings were modestly higher, with the exception of palladium which was unchanged for a second straight business day. In contrasting Friday PM to Monday PM London fix prices:
- Gold added $3.75, or 0.3%, to $1,199 an ounce,
- Silver gained 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $19.37 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $4, or 0.3%, to $1,332 an ounce, and
- Palladium was flat at $700 an ounce
Losses last week for London precious metals accumulated to 3% for gold, 1.1% for silver, 2.9% for platinum and 3.2% for palladium.
US Mint Bullion Sales in December
United States Mint sales of $50 American Gold Eagles shot up 13,000 on Monday, doubling from the total reached last week. Listed below are U.S. Mint bullion sales for the week, for the month through Dec. 23, and the year-to-date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / Week-To-Date Sales | Last Week | December Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 13,000 | 6,500 | 49,500 | 739,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 122,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 535,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 7,000 | 239,000 |
| White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | ||
| Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 30,000 | ||
| Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 30,000 | ||
| Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 30,000 | ||
| Mount Rushmore 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | ||
| American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 42,675,000 | ||
The United States will release 2014 American Silver Eagles on Jan. 13, 2014 and it is expected to release the first 2014 America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin on Jan. 27, 2014.
