Gold edged 40 cents lower Wednesday, snapping a string of three straight session increases which had padded its value by $46.60.
Gold prices for June delivery settled to $1,660.30 an ounce on the Comex in New York. The yellow metal ranged from an intraday low of $1,653.50 to a high of $1,663.90.
"We think gold will be in a range of $1,600 to around $1,690 or $1,700, which is a fairly wide range. But I think it will be difficult for gold to break out of that range," Standard Bank analyst Walter de Wet said, according to Reuters.
"What we are seeing is growing interest to buy in the physical market below $1,630. Should we drop below $1,600 the demand will be pretty strong," he said.
Silver prices for May delivery lost 15.8 cents, or 0.5%, to $31.521 an ounce, moving between $31.37 and $31.82.
Platinum prices for July delivery declined $9.40, or 0.6%, to $1,584.30 an ounce, ranging from $1,582.80 to $1,607.80.
Palladium prices for June delivery fell 25.0 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $636.60 an ounce, trading between $632.50 and $645.00.
London Precious Metals
London precious metals were also mixed with modest movements. When comparing the most recent London PM fixings:
- Gold gained $14.00, or 0.9%, to $1,658.00 an ounce,
- Silver rose 15.0 cents, or 0.5%, to $31.70 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $15.00, or 0.9%, to $1,590.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium fell $2.00, or 0.3%, to $637.00 an ounce
U.S. Mint Bullion Coins
Sales of the U.S. Mint’s most popular bullion coins advanced Wednesday after a day of silence on Tuesday.
Rising the most were American Silver Eagles, up 177,000 for a weekly gain so far of 417,000 — 97,000 more than were sold during all of last week. Another pick-up matching Monday’s or Wednesday’s gain will place American Silver Eagles over the 11 million mark for the year.
Sales of 9,000 ounces of gold bullion were also reported by the U.S. Mint, with splits of 6,000 for the one ounce American Gold Eagle and 3,000 for the American Gold Buffalo.
The following are the available daily, April and year-to-date bullion coin sales totals as provided by the U.S. Mint.
| Sales of U.S. Mint American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Gains | April Gains | YTD 2012 | |
| American Gold Eagles (1 oz.) | 6,000 | 10,000 | 172,000 |
| American Gold Eagles (1/2 oz.) | 0 | 0 | 51,000 |
| American Gold Eagles (1/4 oz.) | 0 | 0 | 40,000 |
| American Gold Eagles (1/10 oz.) | 0 | 5,000 | 135,000 |
| American Gold Buffalo Coin (1 oz.) | 3,000 | 7,000 | 53,500 |
| American Silver Eagles | 177,000 | 737,000 | 10,876,000 |
| Sales of America the Beautiful 5 Oz. Bullion Silver Coins | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Prior Weekly | Weekly Gains | All-Time Total | |
| Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 85,100 |
| Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 38,300 |
| Chickasaw Park 5 oz. Silver Coins | 0 | 200 | 28,900 |
| TOTAL | 0 | 200 | 152,300 |
All bullion coin sales in the above tables are in number of coins, not in the amount of ounces sold. The U.S. Mint last updated five ounce bullion silver coins sold on Monday, April 9.
