Precious metals futures ended divided Tuesday with gold and platinum lower and silver and palladium higher. The loss for gold was its third in four sessions.
Gold for February delivery, the new most-active contract, fell $3, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,190.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Sharply lower crude oil prices weighed on the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals markets, today," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "Also, safe-haven gold continues to see limited buying interest amid generally optimistic trader and investor attitudes the past three weeks."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,182.60 to a high of $1,197.70. They advanced 1.1% on Monday.
Ending higher for a third straight session, silver for March delivery added 6.5 cents, or 0.4%, to $16.74 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.47 and $16.78. On Monday, they rose 0.7%.
In rounding out precious metals trading:
-
January platinum shed $2, or 0.2%, to $921.30 an ounce, ranging from $917.10 to $930.40.
- Palladium for March delivery tacked on $7.25, or 1%, to $765.25 an ounce, trading between $755.05 and $767.65.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold dipped 45 cents to $1,186.55 an ounce.
- Silver declined 14 cents, or 0.8%, to $16.54 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 States Mint bullion sales advanced on Tuesday by 6,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles and by 50,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
Negative adjustments were also published for the five once bullion coins. The Theodore Roosevelt piece dropped by 2,000 coins to 39,200 and the Fort Moultrie piece fell by 3,000 coins to 27,800.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion coins 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 Sales | Nov Sales | 2016 Sales | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coins* | – | 20,000 | ||||
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coins | 5,000 | 25,500 | 10,000 | 100,500 | 110,000 | 775,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 8,000 | 6,000 | 70,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 4,000 | 0 | 16,000 | 16,000 | 148,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coins | 15,000 | 5,000 | 20,000 | 75,000 | 105,000 | 885,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coins | 0 | 3,000 | 1,000 | 28,500 | 24,000 | 201,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coins | 50,000 | 690,000 | 175,000 | 3,825,000 | 3,061,000 | 37,461,500 |
| 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 | 1,200 | 0 | 200 | 1,500 | 38,000 |
| 2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coins | -2,000 | 6,000 | -2,000 | 3,100 | 6,600 | 39,200 |
| 2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coins | -3,000 | 6,000 | -3,000 | – | 27,800 | 27,800 |
