Gold and Silver Ease Lower; US Mint Bullion Sales Climb

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Three silver bullion bars
Precious metals futures logged declines that ranged from 0.3% for gold to 1.5% for palladium

Gold and silver futures settled modestly lower in their start to the new trading week on Monday.

Gold for June delivery shed $4.20, or 0.3%, to close at $1,219.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session modestly lower Monday, amid an improving general world trader/investor risk appetite," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "There was no major, fresh fundamental news in the marketplace Monday to influence the precious metals."

Gold prices ranged from a low $1,215.70 to a high of $1,224.10. They climbed 0.2% last week for their first weekly gain in four weeks.

Silver for May delivery declined 10.2 cents, or 0.7%, to close at $14.911 an ounce. The settlement was the lowest since March 1 when the silver ended at $14.756 an ounce. Silver prices traded between $14.89 and $15.11. Last week, they declined 1%.

  • July platinum fell $11.70, or 1.2%, to $943.50 an ounce, ranging from $941.20 to $961.30.

  • Palladium for June delivery declined $8.50, or 1.5%, to $552.40 an ounce, trading between $550 and $565.75.

The two precious metals were mixed last week with platinum rising 0.3% and palladium falling 2.1%.

London Precious Metals Prices

In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:

  • Gold added $6.15, or 0.5%, to $1,219.75 an ounce.
  • Silver fell 42 cents, or 2.7%, to $14.96 an ounce.

LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.

Last week, gold and palladium fell by 0.6% and 3.1%; silver rose 0.7%; and platinum was unchanged.

US Mint Bullion Sales in 2016

U.S. Mint bullion coins jumped on Monday with sales of:

  • 651,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles;
  • 8,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles; and
  • 500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.

Earlier on Monday, the U.S. Mint announced that this week’s limit of American Silver Eagles was set at 1,042,500 coins. Bullion distributors ordered 62.4% of them to start the week. The Silver Eagle’s cumulative sales total for this year is at 15,608,500 coins, or 28.5% higher than through the same time in record year 2015.

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)
Monday Last Week Jan Sales Feb Sales Mar Sales Apr Sales 2016 Sales
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins 7,000 6,000 89,000 67,500 29,000 8,000 193,500
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins 0 0 23,000 6,000 1,000 0 30,000
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins 0 0 36,000 12,000 4,000 0 52,000
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins 10,000 25,000 145,000 100,000 75,000 10,000 330,000
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins 500 2,000 34,000 19,000 7,000 500 60,500
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins 651,000 957,500 5,954,500 4,782,000 4,106,000 766,000 15,608,500
2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins 0 0 N/A 105,000 0 0 105,000

 

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