Precious metals ended mixed Monday in their start to the new trading week, month and quarter. Gold and silver declined while platinum and palladium gained. Gold’s close was its lowest in three weeks.
Gold for June delivery declined $4.30, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,294.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since March 11.
"Gold prices are softer on the day, despite a falling dollar as investors focus on the rebound with global bond yields. The precious metal in 2019 has seen most of its gains capped on China-US trade deal optimism," wrote Edward Moya, market analyst at Oanda, in a Monday research note relayed by MarketWatch. "Continued upside surprises with Chinese data and progressive trade talks continue to prevent gold from breaking out higher," he added.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,292.60 to a high of $1,301.70. They lost 1.1% last week, pulling down their first quarterly gain to 1.3%.
Silver for May delivery dipped 1.1 cents, or less than 0.1%, to settle at $15.099 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $15.03 to $15.19. The fell 1.9% last week, for a 2.8% quarterly decline. Last Thursday, prices settled at $14.973 an ounce for their worst close since Dec. 24.
In other precious metals futures prices on Monday:
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July platinum edged up $1.20, or 0.1%, to $855.30 an ounce, trading between $847.80 and $862.30.
- Palladium for June delivery rallied $50, or 3.7%, to $1,391.80 an ounce, ranging from $1,338.30 to $1,395.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM
- Gold fell $1.90, 0.2%, to $1,293.50 an ounce.
- Silver declined 3 cents, or 0.2%, to $15.07 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 climbed by a combined 3,000 ounces in gold coins, 100 ounces in platinum coins and 263,000 ounces in silver coins.
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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / This Week / April | Last Week | February | March | 2019 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 100 | 1,000 | 2,400 | 4,000 | 33,600 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 1,000 | 11,000 | 8,500 | 65,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 17,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 24,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 15,000 | 120,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 1,500 | 0 | 6,000 | 5,500 | 36,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 263,000 | 0 | 2,157,500 | 850,000 | 7,288,000 |
| Lowell 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | 80,000 | 80,000 |
