Gold prices on Tuesday settled lower for a second day in a row and silver for a third, while platinum notched a seventh straight session gain.
Gold for April delivery declined $3.80, or 0.3%, to end at $1,204.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"With equity prices near highs, with interest rates as-is, with Treasury yields bouncing around near record lows, with the U.S. dollar index finding favor from investors around the globe, there’s little cause at this very moment to compel gold measurably higher," MarketWatch quoted Erik Gebhard, co-founder of Altavest Worldwide Trading.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,194.60 to a high of $1,210.90. They are down $8.70 since last advancing on Friday.
Silver for May delivery fell 16 cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $16.30 an ounce. The precious metal traded from $16.07 to $16.58.
In PGM futures on Tuesday:
-
April platinum inched down 30 cents to $1,189.60 an ounce, ranging from $1,177.50 to $1,196.80.
- Palladium edged up 55 cents to $831.65 an ounce, trading between $821.50 and $832.90.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals were mixed to unchanged. In comparing London bullion Fix prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold added 25 cents to $1,212.75 an ounce,
- Silver fell 21 cents, or 1.3%, to $16.42 an ounce,
- Platinum was unchanged at $1,185 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $10, or 1.2%, to $831 an ounce.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in March
United States Mint bullion sales logged gains on Tuesday. Gold coins advanced 4,500 ounces and silver coins tacked on 246,000 ounces.
In a milestone, 2015 American Silver Eagles topped 9 million to 9,118,000 for the year — more than the annual totals in 15 prior years going back to the series start in 1986. In record year 2014 when Silver Eagle sales ended at 44,006,000, the coins had a tad higher total of 9,124,000 by March 3, 2014.
Below are U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying time periods.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Current Week | February Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 2,000 | 3,500 | 2,500 | 12,500 | 66,500 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 22,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 38,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 50,000 | 175,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 1,000 | 3,000 | 1,500 | 12,000 | 48,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 246,000 | 777,500 | 566,000 | 3,022,000 | 9,118,000 |
| 2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,500 | 0 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
