Precious metals futures ended lower again on Wednesday. Gold logged a second day of losses after notching a 15-month high on Monday.
Gold for June delivery fell $17.40, or 1.4%, to settle at $1,274.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The difficulty gold is experiencing in staying above $1,300 does not necessarily mean the bull rally is ending. But the rally may be tired and in need of consolidation. This can trigger profit-taking," Reuters quoted HSBC analyst James Steel.
Gold prices traded from a low of $1,273.30 to a high of $1,291.80. As recently as Monday, the yellow metal ended at $1,295.80 an ounce, its best price since Jan. 27, 2015.
Falling for a third straight session, silver for May delivery declined 19.8 cents, or 1.1%, to $17.304 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $17.21 to $17.51.
In rounding out the precious metals futures complex:
-
July platinum lost $16, or 1.5%, to $1,055.60 an ounce, trading between $1,052 and $1,069.20.
- Palladium for June delivery declined $12.40, or 2%, to $596.45 an ounce, ranging from $593.60 to $609.10.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $11, or 0.9%, to $1,283 an ounce.
- Silver declined 31 cents, or 1.8%, to $17.18 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Coin Sales in 2016
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday.
The U.S. Mint this week allocated sales of American Silver Eagles to 1,085,500 coins, which includes 85,500 coins carried over from last week. Distributors order 62.2% of them on Wednesday. 2016 Silver Eagles are at a record sales pace of 19,590,000 coins, representing a 27.6% increase over 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.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week / May | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 15,500 | 7,500 | 29,000 | 93,500 | 286,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 36,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 14,000 | 66,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 15,000 | 5,000 | 75,000 | 55,000 | 380,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,500 | 3,000 | 7,000 | 19,500 | 82,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,002,000 | 675,500 | 4,106,000 | 4,072,000 | 19,590,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64,000 | 64,000 |
