Gold Ends at 3-Week High, Palladium Extends Gains, US Coins Rise

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Palladium

Gold settled at a three-week high to start the new trading week on Monday, silver ended a penny above $20 an ounce, and palladium hit another multi-year high.

Gold for June delivery moved up $8.50, or 0.6%, to $1,327.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices ranged from a low of $1,318.70 to a high of $1,331.40. The closing price was the highest since March 21.

"I think the need to have some gold in investment portfolios for safety now is more than ever," Reuters quoted Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker at RJ O’Brien. "A lot of people don’t necessarily trust the stock market at the moment."

Gold prices last week settled up 1.2%.

After ending flat last week, silver for May delivery picked up 6 cents, or 0.3%, to end at $20.01 an ounce. The precious metal traded between $19.72 and $20.14.

In PGM futures on Monday:

  • July platinum rose $4.80, or 0.3%, to $1,467.40 an ounce, ranging from $1,459.50 to $1,471.50.

  • Palladium for June delivery added $4.70, or 0.6%, to $811.50 an ounce, trading between $807.10 and $817.

Palladium scored a fresh 32-month high, buoyed by supply woes from the labor strike in South Africa and over Ukraine-Russian tensions.

"Rarely have there been such favorable conditions in terms of strong demand versus disrupted supply," Steven Scacalossi, the head of global metals sales at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a report according to Bloomberg News. "Palladium is the market in the spotlight."

Russia is the leading producer of palladium with South Africa immediately behind. Bloomberg News reports Russia and South Africa respectively account for 40% and 37% of the palladium produced in the world.

London Fix Precious Metals

Earlier fixed London precious metals split with silver lower and the other metals higher. In contrasting the London fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:

  • Gold gained $7.75, or 0.6%, to $1,325.75 an ounce,
  • Silver fell 35 cents, or 1.7%, to $19.74 an ounce,
  • Platinum tacked on $12, or 0.8%, to $1,466 an ounce, and
  • Palladium jumped $19, or 2.4%, to $813 an ounce

Last week, advances included 1.6% for gold, 0.8% for silver, 0.7% for platinum and 0.6% for palladium.

US Mint Bullion Sales in March

U.S. Mint bullion sales on Monday advanced across Gold Eagles, Silver Eagles and ATB 5 oz. bullion coins. In total ounces, gold coin sales rose 5,500 and silver coin sales rose 828,000.

Below is a sales breakdown for U.S. Mint bullion products with columns offering the number of bullion coins sold on Monday, last week, last month, the month-to-date, and the year-to-date.

American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins)
Monday Sales Sales Last Week March Sales April Sales YTD Sales
$100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins 0 300 10,000 600 10,600
$50 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 4,000 3,000 16,000 16,000 116,500
$25 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 0 0 2,000 1,000 18,000
$10 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 4,000 8,000 4,000 14,000 56,000
$5 American Eagle Gold Bullion Coins 5,000 10,000 30,000 25,000 265,000
$50 American Buffalo Gold Bullion Coins 0 3,000 12,000 10,000 75,500
$1 American Silver Eagle Bullion Coins 752,500 1,050,500 5,354,000 2,096,000 15,975,000
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Bullion Coins 15,100 0 12,400 17,700 30,100

 

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