Gold prices retreated for a second session in a row to start the new trading week on Monday.
Gold for August delivery shed $3.60, or 0.3%, to close at $1,317 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Interest rate speculation regarding the Federal Reserve possibly raising interest rates sooner than expected may have contributed to the weakness," MarketWatch quoted Mark O’Byrne, a director at GoldCore, based in Dublin. "From a momentum and technical perspective, gold is looking much better and this should lead to an uptick in demand."
Minutes from the last monetary policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) become available on Wednesday. Investors will be looking to the FOMC minutes for possible signals on policy matters such as interest rates.
Gold prices traded from an intraday low of $1,312.10 to a high of $1,324.10. Gold slipped 0.1% last week.
Silver also dipped for a second session with September futures off 12 cents, or 0.6%, to $21.01 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $20.87 to $21.28. They gained 0.4% last week.
In PGM futures:
-
October platinum declined $12.10, or 0.8%, to $1,495.60 an ounce, trading between $1,492.40 and $1,508.70.
- Palladium for September added $7.05, or 0.8%, to $868.95 an ounce, ranging from $856.35 to $869.60.
Last week, platinum climbed 1.7% and palladium surged 2.2%.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals moved in the same direction as New York bullion futures. In contrasting the London bullion fix prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold lost $6.25, or 0.5%, to $1,313 an ounce,
- Silver shed 17 cents, or 0.8%, to $20.95 an ounce,
- Platinum declined $2, or 0.1%, to $1,501 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $2, or 0.2%, to $868 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Sales in July
Sales of United States Mint bullion coins were unchanged as of 3:08 p.m. ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold 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 Sales | June Sales | July Sales | YTD Sales | |
$100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 700 | 0 | 12,900 |
$50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 7,500 | 43,000 | 5,500 | 204,000 |
$25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 0 | 27,000 |
$10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 72,000 |
$5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 5,000 | 365,000 |
$50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 16,000 | 500 | 112,000 |
$1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 395,000 | 2,692,000 | 75,000 | 24,203,500 |
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 900 | 0 | 20,000 |
Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | -800* | 18,500 | 0 | 18,500 |
*On Monday, June 30, the U.S Mint reduced sales of Arches silver coins.