Gold advanced modestly to kick off the new trading week on Monday. The yellow metal on Friday ended at its lowest price of the year.
Gold for December delivery rose $1.30, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,217.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold got some support from the weakness in equities and lower-than-expected U.S. home-sales data," Bart Melek, the head of commodity strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, said in a telephone interview according to Bloomberg News. "The overall sentiment remains bearish."
Gold prices ranged from an intraday low of $1,208.80 to a high of $1,221. Gold fell 1.2% last week.
Silver for December delivery slipped 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.77 an ounce, trading between $17.33 and $17.87. The low was the weakest price for silver since July 28, 2010, according to Bloomberg News. Silver prices last week tumbled by 4.1%.
In rounding out the precious metals complex:
-
October platinum shed $7.10, or 0.5%, to $1,330.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,327 to $1,338.20.
- Palladium for December delivery slipped $9.45, or 1.2%, to $803.15 an ounce, trading between $801.25 and $816.60.
Last week, platinum fell 2.4% and palladium lost 2.8%.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals declined. In contrasting London bullion Fix prices and the LBMA Silver Price from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold shed $6.25, or 0.5%, to $1,213.50 an ounce,
- Silver plunged 71 cents, or 3.9%, to $17.74,
- Platinum declined $15, or 1.1%, at $1,329 an ounce, and
- Palladium fell $16, or 1.9%, to $807 an ounce
Last week they registered losses of 1.2% for platinum, 0.7% for palladium, and 1% for both gold and silver.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Monday as of 3:50 PM ET. Last week, silver coin sales were the highest since the week ended May 9 and gold coin sales were the highest since the week ended Jan 10.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins last week, this week, this month so far, and the year to date.
| American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | August Sales | September Sales | YTD Sales | |
| $100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | 0 | 200 | 700 | 400 | 14,000 |
| $50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 15,500 | 21,000 | 34,500 | 280,000 |
| $25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | 32,000 |
| $10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 88,000 |
| $5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 5,000 | 25,000 | 15,000 | 425,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 8,000 | 133,000 |
| $1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 950,000 | 2,007,500 | 1,760,000 | 29,871,000 |
| Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 0 | 2,000 | 31,500 |
| Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 500 | 500 | 21,000 |
| Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 1,200 | 500 | 21,700 |
| Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 500 | 7,500 | 3,000 | 10,500 |
