Bucking the trend of other precious metals on Thursday, gold declined for a third straight day and for the fifth time in six sessions. A stronger U.S. dollar coupled with riskier appetites contributed in dragging gold prices below $1,300 an ounce for the first time in more than a week.
Gold for December delivery settled down $10.30, or 0.8%, to $1,296.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The precious metal traded from an intraday low of $1,293.40 to a high of $1,312. Gold prices last closed below $1,300 an ounce on Oct. 1.
"Gold continues its interesting unfavorability as the metal crossed [below] $1,300 again," MarketWatch quoted Jonathan Citrin, founder and executive chairman of investment advisory firm Citrin Group.
The metal is "paying a costly price for a current blindness to downside circumstances that hide in the distance," he said. "Surging markets still hold the limelight, with inflation and geopolitical unrest an afterthought."
Silver for December delivery edged a half penny higher to $21.90 an ounce. It traded between $21.72 and $22.25. In the prior session, silver prices tumbled 55.2 cents, or 2.5%.
In rounding out precious metals futures on Thursday:
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January platinum added $13, or 0.9%, to $1,396 an ounce after falling $20.70, or 1.5%, on Wednesday. Platinum ranged from $1,380.60 to $1,399.90.
- Palladium for December added $8.45, or 1.1%, to $712.55 an ounce after dropping $10.80, or 1.5%, in the prior session. Palladium traded between $701.30 and $713.
London Fix Precious Metals
London precious metals fixings were mostly lower. In contrasting the Wednesday PM to Thursday PM London fix prices:
- Gold slid $5.50, or 0.4%, to $1,298.50 an ounce,
- Silver lost 17 cents, or 0.8%, to $21.93 an ounce,
- Platinum was flat at $1,385 an ounce, and
- Palladium shed $2, or 0.3%, to $705 an ounce
U.S. Mint Bullion Sales in October
U.S. Mint gold sales advanced by 2,000 ounces Thursday. Splits were 1,500 ounces in Gold Eagles and 500 ounces in Gold Buffalos. Current United States Mint sales figures by bullion type are shown in the following table:
American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thursday Sales | Last Week | Week-To-Date Sales | October Sales | YTD Sales | |
$50 American Eagle Gold Coins | 1,000 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 611,000 |
$25 American Eagle Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 54,000 |
$10 American Eagle Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 106,000 |
$5 American Eagle Gold Coins | 5,000 | 5,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 475,000 |
$50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins | 500 | 4,500 | 1,500 | 6,000 | 206,000 |
White Mountain 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | Sold Out | 35,000 | |||
Perry’s Victory 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,200 | 0 | 1,200 | 26,200 |
Great Basin 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,200 | 0 | 2,200 | 27,200 |
Fort McHenry 5 oz. Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 600 | 2,600 | 27,600 |
American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 675,000 | 679,500 | 866.500 | 36,954,500 |
Frankly, with the October 17th deadline approaching, and officials still at an impasse was surprised to see the price of gold drop below $1,300. Be interesting to see if the price rebounds sharply next week.
gold should be about 700-900 an ounce. this whole time hedge funds play consumers for fools to buy gold at 12000-17000 and ounch but garrenty to by it back from you at 900-1000 or less doubling thier dollar profit while the consumer was holding on to it for a rainy day.