Gold and silver futures closed higher Wednesday, with the former marking their best close in nearly three weeks.
Gold for April delivery moved up $11, or 0.9%, to settle at $1,241.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the highest since Feb. 11 when gold closed at $1,247.80 an ounce.
"Weak data globally is adding to concerns over a slowdown and that is helping gold," Reuters quoted a bullion trader in Hong Kong.
Gold prices ranged from a low of $1,225.10 to a high of $1,244.80 after slipping 0.3% in the prior session.
Silver for May delivery tacked on 26.6 cents, or 1.8%, to finish at $15.022 an ounce — the highest settlement since Feb. 25. Silver prices traded between $14.77 and $15.05. They lost 1.1% on Tuesday.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
April platinum dipped 50 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $936.20 an ounce, ranging from $931.60 to $942.60.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $2.05, or 0.4%, to $515.30 an ounce, trading between $509.55 and $522.25.
London Precious Metals Prices
Earlier fixed London gold and silver prices were mixed. In comparing their levels from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold added $2.70, or 0.2%, to $1,239.20 an ounce.
- Silver fell 17 cents, or 1.1%, to $14.82 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged for a second straight day following solid gains on Monday. Below is a sales breakdown of United States Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | Mar Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 9,000 | 89,000 | 67,500 | 0 | 156,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 23,000 | 6,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 36,000 | 12,000 | 0 | 48,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 145,000 | 100,000 | 0 | 245,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,500 | 2,000 | 34,000 | 19,000 | 0 | 53,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,073,500 | 736,500 | 5,954,500 | 4,782,000 | 0 | 10,736,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 30,000 | 0 | N/A | 105,000 | 0 | 105,000 |
