Precious metals futures inched higher in the mid-week trading session Wednesday. Gains in gold and silver were a first in six sessions.
Gold for December delivery added $2.40, or 0.2%, to settle at $1,326.10 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold’s increase was attributed to a weakened U.S. dollar.
"There was some very volatile, algorithm driven price action today in the gold market, with the metal carving out an $8 range on moderate-to-good volume," Reuters quoted Alex Thorndike, senior precious metals dealer with MKS PAMP Group.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,316.60 to a high of $1,329.80. In the previous session, they closed at their lowest level since Sept. 1.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery gained 9.1 cents, or 0.5%, to end at $19.066 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $18.84 and $19.18.
In PGM futures on Wednesday:
-
October platinum rose $4.90, or 0.5%, to $1,040.90 an ounce, ranging from $1,034.20 to $1,048.80.
- Palladium for December delivery edged up 40 cents, or less than 0.1%, to $656.50 an ounce, trading between $652.50 and $663.60.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $1.90, or 0.1%, to $1,321.75 an ounce.
- Silver fell 12 cents, or 0.6%, to $19.04 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
United Sates Mint bullion sales were unchanged Wednesday as of 3:51 p.m. ET. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday Sales | Last Week | This Week | Aug Sales | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 14,500 | 4,500 | 50,000 | 24,000 | 510,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 3,000 | 2,000 | 53,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 0 | 4,000 | 6,000 | 106,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 60,000 | 35,000 | 650,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,500 | 0 | 9,000 | 4,500 | 136,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 170,000 | 640,000 | 1,280,000 | 950,000 | 29,850,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105,000 |
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,900 | 0 | 36,100 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 1,500 | 1,000 | 27,500 | 2,500 | 30,000 |
