Precious metals futures ended lower Tuesday following their gains on Monday. Gold eased from its highest close in 11 weeks and palladium dipped from a more than 16-1/2-year high.
Gold for December delivery declined $5.70, or 0.4%, to settle at $1,291 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Some mild profit-taking pressure was featured after recent price gains that saw gold hit a multi-month high,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Metals Inc., said in a daily note.
"World stock markets were mostly up Tuesday and U.S. stock indexes were solidly higher in early-afternoon action. The gains in world stock markets were also a daily negative for the safe-haven gold market," Wyckoff added.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,287 to a high of $1,298.10. They climbed 0.4% in their start to the week on Monday, marking their best close since June 6.
Elsewhere, silver for September delivery shed 3.3 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $16.982 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $16.87 and $17.12. They advanced 0.09% in the previous session.
In rounding out precious metals dealings:
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October platinum dropped $4.20, or 0.4%, to $981.30 an ounce, ranging from $973.50 to $986.30.
- Palladium for September delivery settled down $6.65, or 0.7%, to $932.35 an ounce, trading between $930.60 and $941.20. On Monday, they rose 1.3% to end at their strongest price since February 2001.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Monday PM to Tuesday PM:
- Gold declined $8.70 or 0.7%, to 1,284.20 an ounce.
- Silver was unchanged at $17.02 an ounce.
LBMA platinum and palladium prices are available on the LBMA’s website with a delay of midnight.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2017
United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged Tuesday as of 3:10 p.m. ET. 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuesday | Last Week | This Week | July | August | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 13,500 | 6,000 | 161,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,000 | 0 | 2,000 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 54,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 30,000 | 15,000 | 305,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 500 | 6,000 | 2,500 | 74,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 125,000 | 190,000 | 2,320,000 | 425,000 | 14,978,500 |
| 2017 Effigy Mounds 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35,000 |
| 2017 Frederick Douglass 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| 2017 Ozark Riverways 5 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
