Precious metals futures rose slightly Wednesday. Gold was the weakest gainer overall, advancing less than 0.1% as the U.S. dollar eased.
Gold for February delivery edged up 60 cents to finish at $1,284 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Technically, February gold futures bulls have the overall near-term technical advantage, but are fading. A two-month-old price uptrend is still in place on the daily bar chart, but just barely," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "Gold bulls’ next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above solid technical resistance at $1,300."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,277.70 to a high of $1,286. They rose less than 0.1% on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, silver for March delivery picked up 5.5 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $15.38 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $15.27 and $15.45. They declined 0.5% on Tuesday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum added $5.20, or 0.7%, to $796.40 an ounce, ranging from $790.80 to $798.30.
- Palladium for March delivery gained $1.70, or 0.1%, to $1,308.20 an ounce, trading between $1,295 and $1,319.50. On Thursday, palladium logged a record settlement at $1,348.20 an ounce.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold fell $2.30, or 0.2%, to $1,279.80 an ounce.
- Silver was unchanged at $15.26 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight
US Mint 2019 Bullion Sales
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Last Week | This Week | December | 2018 Sales | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 2,800 | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 25,600 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 8,500 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 191,000 | 42,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 32,000 | 14,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 20,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 0 | 230,000 | 75,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,500 | 1,500 | 1,500 | 121,500 | 22,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 710,000 | 375,000 | 490,000 | 15,700,000 | 3,931,000 |
