Gold futures kicked off the new trading month on Wednesday with a loss — their ninth in ten sessions, and settled at their lowest level in more than fourteen weeks.
Gold for August delivery declined $2.80, or 0.2%, to close at $1,214.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement was the lowest since Feb. 22 when prices ended at $1,210.10 an ounce.
Gold futures traded from a low of $1,208.20 to a high of $1,222.90. They inched up 80 cents on Tuesday — their first gain in nine sessions, and registered a loss of 5.7% in May.
"Gold is likely to continue its outperformance relative to silver for the time being but we still think it’s too early to ‘buy the dip’ outright, particularly ahead of Friday’s deluge of U.S. data," ICBC Standard Bank said in a note, according to Reuters.
Silver for July delivery fell 6.7 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $15.927 an ounce. The level was the weakest close since April 8 when silver ended at $15.384 an ounce. Silver prices ranged from $15.83 to $16.11.
In other precious metals futures on Wednesday:
-
July platinum shed $8.50, or 0.9%, to $971.90 an ounce, trading between $968.60 and $986.80.
- Palladium for September delivery slipped 60 cents, or 0.1%, to $546.75 an ounce, ranging from $542.45 to $551.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold added $2.40, or 0.2%, to $1,214.50 an ounce.
- Silver declined 11 cents, or 0.7%, to $15.95 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 after gains on Tuesday of 12,000 ounces in gold coins and 579,500 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Mint said it is limiting this week’s sales of American Silver Eagle to 1,166,500 coins, with the portion above 1 million including coins left over from last week’s allocation. The Mint’s network of bullion distributors ordered 54.8% of them through Wednesday. 2016 American Silver Eagles are running at a record pace with 23,413,000 sold, representing a 35% increase over those sold through same time in record-breaking year 2015.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods of time.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday / June Sales | Last Week | This Week | Mar Sales | Apr Sales | May Sale | 2016 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 18,500 | 7,500 | 29,000 | 93,500 | 64,500 | 343,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 43,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 14,000 | 10,000 | 76,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 75,000 | 55,000 | 60,000 | 435,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 2,500 | 7,000 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 98,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 891,000 | 579,500 | 4,106,000 | 4,072,000 | 4,498,500 | 23,413,000 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64,000 | 11,000 | 75,000 |
