Gold retreated Tuesday after an unchanged reading from the previous day that followed a five-session winning streak where the yellow metal logged its biggest weekly increase since January.
Gold for December delivery declined $6.10, or 0.4%, to close at $1,724.80 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Gold traded between intraday levels of $1,717.60 and $1,733.30. Pressure came from a firmer U.S. dollar.
"Comex gold prices ended the U.S. day session moderately lower Tuesday. Bearish ‘outside markets’ limited buying interest in the gold and silver markets, as the U.S. dollar index was firmer, while crude oil prices were weaker," noted Jim Wyckoff in the P.M. Kitco Metals Roundup. "Gold and silver have seen some mild profit taking and chart consolidations occur early this week, following last week’s good gains."
Precious metals surged last week with gains of 3.3% for gold, 5.7% for silver, 0.9% for platinum and 1.9% for palladium.
Also on Tuesday, silver for December delivery lost 3.5 cents, or 0.11%, to $32.487 an ounce. The white metal ranged from $32.10 to $32.83.
PGM’s, on-the-other-hand, posted significant daily gains.
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Platinum for January delivery advanced $19.90, or 1.3%, to $1,586.40 an ounce, trading between $1,557.40 and $1,595.00.
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Palladium for December delivery rallied $28.55, or 4.7%, to $636.60 an ounce, ranging from $606.00 to $614.45.
The two metals were supported by forecasts from Johnson Matthey that show supplies will fall short of demand this year.
London Bullion Prices
Precious metals in London moved in the same direction as futures in New York. In contrasting the latest London PM Fix prices:
- Gold declined $9.00, or 0.5%, to $1,726.25 an ounce,
- Silver fell 5.0 cents, or 0.2%, to $32.58 an ounce,
- Platinum advanced $18.00, or 1.1%, to $1,585.00 an ounce, and
- Palladium gained $6.00, or 1.0%, to $617.00 an ounce
US Bullion Coin Sales in November
The U.S. Mint registered strong gains Tuesday for its bullion products following an extended three-day weekend. While the first half of November is still a few days ahead, bullion sales for the month are well more than half higher than the very robust levels logged in October.
Each of the Mint’s major bullion products advanced Tuesday. In another notable, the bureau’s American Silver Eagle coin topped 31 million in sales this year. That has occurred only twice before in the 99.9% fine silver coin’s 26-year history.
Shown below are the latest daily, November and year-to-date bullion coin sales as provided by the U.S. Mint.
| US Mint American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Coin Sales | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Sales | November Sales | YTD 2012 | |
| $50 American Gold Eagle Coin | 3,500 | 39,500 | 504,000 |
| $25 American Gold Eagle Coin | 1,000 | 1,000 | 64,000 |
| $10 American Gold Eagle Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 68,000 |
| $5 American Gold Eagle Coin | 5,000 | 15,000 | 295,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Gold Coins | 1,000 | 6,000 | 113,500 |
| American Silver Eagle Coin | 647,500 | 2,195,500 | 31,143,500 |
| America the Beautiful 5 Oz. Silver Bullion Coin Sales | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Sales | November Sales | All-Time Total | |
| 2012 El Yunque National Forest 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 500 | 1,800 | 19,900 |
| 2012 Chaco Culture National Historical Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 500 | 1,800 | 20,000 |
| 2012 Acadia National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 500 | 500 | 22,300 |
| 2012 Hawai’i Volcanoes 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 20,000 |
| 2012 Denali National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,500 | 15,000 |
| 2011 Olympic National Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 85,900 |
| 2011 Vicksburg National Military Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 39,500 |
| 2011 Chickasaw Park 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 29,700 |
| TOTAL | 1,500 | 11,600 | 252,300 |
Coin sales listed above are in the number of bullion coins sold, not the amount of ounces.
