Silver advanced 0.7% on Wednesday as other precious metals declined. Gold slipped the least, off less than 0.3%, while platinum shed 0.4% and palladium lost 0.9%.
Gold for December delivery dipped $3.20 to settle at $1,193.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The big economic report of the day in the U.S. was the minutes of the latest meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), out in early afternoon," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "The minutes this time contained no elements that surprised the market place and markets moved little in the aftermath. Fed meetings and minutes of those meetings have been markets-movers the past many months."
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,177.70 to a high of $1,201.70. Gold in the prior session advanced 1.1% and reached a more than two-week high. The yellow metal is up on the week so far by 0.7%.
Silver for December delivery matched the prior session gain, rising 12 cents or 0.7%. Silver prices ended at $16.29 an ounce, trading between $15.87 and $16.54.
Elsewhere in the metals market:
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January platinum declined $5.30 to $1,199.30 an ounce, ranging from $1,181.10 to $1,209.60.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $6.75 to $769.95 an ounce, trading between $763.65 and $780.
London Fix Precious Metals
Earlier fixed London precious metals changed slightly. In contrasting London bullion Fix prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold added $3.25, or 0.3%, to $1,196 an ounce,
- Silver slipped a penny to $16.26 an ounce,
- Platinum rose $1, or 0.1%, to $1,206 an ounce, and
- Palladium added $6, or 0.8%, to $780 an ounce
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in November
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:10 PM ET. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold last week, this week so far, last month, in November and the year to date.
American Eagle and Buffalo Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wednesday Sales | Last Week | Current Week | October Sales | November Sales | YTD Sales | |
$100 American Platinum Eagle Bullion Coins | N/A | 400 | N/A* | 16,700 | ||
$50 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 1,500 | 57,500 | 40,500 | 394,000 |
$25 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 5,000 | 43,000 |
$10 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 8,000 | 10,000 | 110,000 |
$5 American Eagle Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 0 | 50,000 | 30,000 | 520,000 |
$50 American Buffalo Bullion Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 2,500 | 21,000 | 10,500 | 171,000 |
$1 American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,310,500 | 5,790,000 | 2,570,500 | 40,691,500 |
Great Smoky Mountains National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33,000 |
Shenandoah National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 300 | 900 | 700 | 23,100 |
Arches National Park 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22,000 |
Great Sand Dunes 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 4,200 | 1,600 | 17,800 |
Everglades 5 Oz Silver Bullion Coins | 0 | 0 | 5,000 | N/A | 27,000 | 27,000 |
*The U.S. Mint stopped selling bullion Platinum Eagles on Oct. 1. The agency will begin selling 2015-dated issues in early January.