Gold and silver futures retreated Wednesday. Gold ended lower after scoring its best month of gains since June, and silver fell from an almost 3-month high.
Gold for April delivery shed $3.10, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,208.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,199.70 to a high of $1,215. They gained 1.3% on Tuesday, ending the month of January with a 5.2% increase.
"Gold prices ended the U.S. day session just slightly lower, on a downside technical correction after good gains Tuesday," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a report. "The gold market did uptick just a bit following the afternoon release of the FOMC statement."
Prices rose modestly in after-hours trade, near the $1,211 an ounce mark, when the FOMC said it would leave interest rates unchanged.
Closing down for the first time in four sessions, silver for March delivery lost 9.3 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $17.45 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.36 and $17.63. In the previous session, they closed at their best point since Nov. 10 to clock a 9.7% increase in January.
In other precious metals futures:
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April platinum added $3, or 0.3%, to $999.80 an ounce, ranging from $994.50 to $1,003.90.
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Palladium for March delivery added $8.60, or 1.1%, to $762.90 an ounce, trading between $754 and $767.50.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London bullion prices from Tuesday PM to Wednesday PM:
- Gold declined $9.15, or 0.8%, to $1,203.65 an ounce.
- Silver rose 31 cents, or 1.8%, to $17.60 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 2017
U.S. Mint bullion sales were unchanged as of 3:12 p.m. ET. This article will be updated if new figures are published before the end of the day.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. bullion products with columns listing the number of 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 | Jan Sales | Feb Sales | 2017 Sales | |
$100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 | 0 | 20,000 |
$50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 10,000 | 6,500 | 86,500 | 0 | 86,500 |
$25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 19,000 | 0 | 19,000 |
$10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 36,000 | 0 | 36,000 |
$5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 5,000 | 125,000 | 0 | 125,000 |
$50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 1,500 | 32,000 | 0 | 32,000 |
$1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 325,000 | 230,000 | 5,127,500 | 0 | 5,127,500 |
2016 Shawnee 5 Oz Silver Coins* | – | |||||
2016 Cumberland Gap 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | |||||
2016 Harpers Ferry 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 0 |
2016 Theodore Roosevelt 5 Oz Silver Coin* | – | 0 | – | 800 | – | – |
2016 Fort Moultrie 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |