Precious metals futures declined Tuesday, led by silver and followed by gold. The two metals settled at more than 3-month lows.
Gold for December delivery declined $43, or 3.3%, to end at $1,269.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement is the lowest since June 23 when the yellow metal ended at $1,263.10 an ounce on the day of the Brexit vote.
Gold dropped below "a heavy psychological support level at $1,300, which had been acting as the lower range for the metal since the EU referendum three months ago," MarketWatch quoted Jameel Ahmad, vice president of market research at FXTM. "The dollar is steadily regaining some momentum across the currency markets and if U.S. interest-rate expectations increase over the upcoming days, we can expect further losses for gold," he added.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,269 to a high of $1,315.40. They are down 3.6% for the week so far.
Elsewhere, silver for December delivery tumbled $1.09, or 5.8%, to settle at $17.775 an ounce. The close is the weakest since June 27 when silver ended at $17.744 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.74 and $18.94.
In other precious metals futures trading:
-
January platinum lost $18.60, or 1.8%, to $990.50 an ounce, ranging from $988 to $1,013.60.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $12.25, or 1.7%, to $699.55 an ounce, trading between $696.50 and $714.95.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $30, or 2.3%, to $1,283.30 an ounce.
- Silver dropped 44 cents, or 2.3%, to $18.74 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 5,500 ounces in gold coins and 350,000 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 | This Week / Oct | Sept Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | 20,000 | |||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 4,000 | 24,000 | 8,500 | 79,000 | 573,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 5,000 | 57,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 6,000 | 0 | 16,000 | 116,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 20,000 | 5,000 | 85,000 | 705,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 1,000 | 4,500 | 2,000 | 17,500 | 151,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 345,000 | 370,000 | 530,000 | 1,675,000 | 31,105,500 |
| 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 | 0 | 200 | 36,300 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | 1,000 | -500 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 30,500 |
