Gold futures marked a fresh two-week low in their start to the new trading week, month and quarter.
Gold for December delivery shed $4.40, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,312.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since Sept. 16.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,311.80 to a high of $1,322.60. They closed the third quarter on Friday with a modest 0.3% loss but did rise in September by 0.4%.
"This week … there are plenty of U.S. macro data to look forward to which could have a big impact on the near-term direction of the dollar, and in turn buck-denominated precious metals," Reuters quoted Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst for Forex.com. "So while they appear to be out of favor now, gold and silver could make a comeback if the incoming U.S. data, especially the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday, turn out to be mostly weaker than expected."
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery declined 34.6 cents, or 1.8%, to settle at $18.868 an ounce. Like for gold, the close is the lowest since Sept. 16. Silver futures traded between $18.80 and $19.39. They logged gains of 2.7% in September and 3.2% for the third quarter.
In other precious metals futures trading:
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January platinum dropped $25.40, or 2.5%, to $1,009.10 an ounce, ranging from $1,006.50 to $1,036..
- Palladium for December delivery fell $9.70, or 1.3%, to $711.80 an ounce, trading between $707 and $727.95.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Friday PM to Monday PM:
- Gold rose $4.40, or 0.3%, to $1,322.50 an ounce.
- Silver added 34 cents, or 1.8%, to $19.35 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 registered gains of 6,000 ounces in gold coins and 185,000 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) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday Sales | Last Week | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | – | 20,000 | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 4,500 | 24,000 | 79,000 | 569,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 56,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 16,000 | 116,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 20,000 | 85,000 | 705,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 4,500 | 17,500 | 150,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 185,000 | 370,000 | 1,675,000 | 30,760,500 |
| 2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 105,000 | ||
| 2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | 75,000 | ||
| 2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | 0 | 200 | 36,300 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 0 | -500 | 2,000 | 29,500 |
