Gold settled modestly lower to start the new trading month on Wednesday while silver extended its losing streak to five straight sessions.
Gold for August delivery lost $2.50, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,169.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The close was the lowest since June 5 when gold ended at $1,168.10 an ounce. Despite Greece’s debt woes, the yellow metal has seen little change this week — down about 0.3% since Friday.
"It’s not clear whether it’s [the Greek situation] good for gold because people think the dollar might rally and institutional investors are less interested in the gold market," Reuters quoted Macquarie analyst Matthew Turner. "Everyone says this crisis should be good for gold, but no one has made a convincing case on who should be buying gold … Greeks are going to hold euros."
Gold ranged from a low of $1,166.70 to a high of $1,174.40. With Tuesday’s drop of 0.6%, gold prices ended 1.5% lower in June.
Silver for September delivery was almost unchanged, sliding less than one-half cent to settle at $15.58 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $15.44 and $15.84. Last month, they plunged by 6.7%.
In other precious metals dealings on Wednesday:
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October platinum settled up $8.30, or 0.8%, to $1,087.80 an ounce, ranging from $1,080.30 to $1,091.10.
- Palladium for September rebounded $28.55, or 4.2%, to $701.20 an ounce, trading between $673.35 and $702.25.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London precious metals prices were mixed as well. In comparing London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold fell $3, or 0.3%, to $1,168 an ounce,
- Silver declined 26 cents, or 1.6%, to $15.63 an ounce,
- Platinum gained $4, or 0.4%, $1,082 an ounce, and
- Palladium shot up $22, or 3.2%, to $699 an ounce.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in July
U.S. Mint bullion coins have yet to hit the sales boards in July as of 3:34 PM EDT. Bullion sales soared in June with both gold and silver coins jumping the most since January. Below is a listing of U.S. Mint bullion products that shows the number of coins sold during varying periods. Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday/July Sales | Last Week | Current Week | June Sales | YTD Sales | |
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 12,500 | 12,000 | 62,500 | 198,500 |
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 4,000 | 36,000 |
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 12,000 | 70,000 |
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 10,000 | 85,000 | 390,000 |
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,500 | 5,000 | 21,000 | 96,500 |
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,090,000 | 1,150,000 | 4,840,000 | 21,786,000 |
2015 Homestead 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 35,000 | |||
2015 Kisatchie 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 42,000 | |||
2015 Blue Ridge Parkway 5 Oz Silver Coins** | – | 35,000 | – | 35,000 | 35,000 |
**The Blue Ridge Parkway bullion coin temporarily sold out on the day of its launch, June 22.