Precious metals rallied in their start to the new trading week on Tuesday following an extended U.S. holiday weekend for Labor Day.
Gold for December delivery surged $27.30, or 2.1%, to settle at $1,354 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the highest since Aug. 18.
"Gold and silver futures prices ended the U.S. day session sharply higher and hit three-week highs Tuesday," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily note. "Overnight gains in both metals were solidly extended after the morning release of a very downbeat U.S. ISM non-manufacturing report for August."
The Institute for Supply Management said its service index fell to 51.4% last month from 55.5% in July. The level is the lowest since February 2010.
"Much like its manufacturing cousin, the non-manufacturing ISM poured cold water on expectations for a Fed rate hike later this month, and also called into question the strength of the economy heading into the fall," MarketWatch quoted Jennifer Lee, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,325.50 to a high of $1,357.20. They edged up 80 cents last week.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery rallied 77.2 cents, or 4%, to settle at $20.138 an ounce. The settlement is the highest since Aug. 10. Silver futures traded between $19.38 and $20.22. They jumped 3.8% last week, for their first weekly increase in five weeks.
In other precious metals futures trading:
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October platinum turned up $40.50, or 3.8%, to $1,102.70 an ounce, ranging from $1,064.70 to $1,106.90.
- Palladium for December delivery tacked on $27.10, or 4%, to $700.65 an ounce, trading between $675.20 and $701.85.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold rose $10.90, or 0.8%, to $1,337.25 an ounce.
- Silver gained 14 cents, or 0.7%, to $19.60 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 advances included 3,500 ounces in gold coins and 5,000 ounces in silver coins. Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of bullion coins sold during varying periods Products with an asterisk (*) are no longer available.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday Sales | Last Week | Aug Sales | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,500 | 17,500 | 50,000 | 6,500 | 492,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 3,000 | 1,000 | 52,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 100,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 25,000 | 60,000 | 20,000 | 635,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,500 | 1,500 | 9,000 | 2,500 | 134,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 410,000 | 1,280,000 | 140,000 | 29,040,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 1,900 | 0 | 36,100 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 1,000 | 27,500 | 27,500 | 1,000 | 28,500 |
