Most precious metals ended lower Thursday. Gold was the exception, climbing slightly for its first advance since Friday.
Gold for December delivery added $1.30, or 0.1%, to settle at $1,329.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"The latest leg-up in the net-long position in gold futures does not appear to have been driven by a revision of expectations of Fed tightening," MarketWatch quoted Caroline Bain, chief commodities economist at Capital Economics. "Instead, we think that the surge in net longs and the inflows into gold ETFs reflect safe-haven demand on the back of an escalation of the North Korean crisis."
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,319.50 to a high of $1,334.50. They lost 0.4% in the previous session, slipped 0.2% on Tuesday, and declined 1.1% in their start to the trading week on Monday. On Friday, they ended at $1,351.20 an ounce for their highest settlement since Sept. 6, 2016.
Ending lower for a fourth straight day, silver for December delivery settle down 7.8 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.789 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $17.66 and $17.86. They shed 0.1% on Wednesday, declined less than 0.1% on Tuesday, and fell 1.2% on Monday. They closed on Friday at their strongest price since April 19.
In other precious metals prices:
-
October platinum dipped $2.30, or 0.2%, to $980.90 an ounce, ranging from $978.10 to $987.20.
- Palladium for December delivery dropped $19.40, or 2.1%, to $914.30 an ounce, trading between $911.35 and $940.
London Precious Metals Prices
In comparing earlier fixed London gold and silver prices from Wednesday PM to Thursday PM:
- Gold declined $3 or 0.2%, to 1,324.55 an ounce.
- Silver declined 16 cents, or 0.9%, to $17.75 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 as of 3:43 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) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | August | September | YTD | |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 6,500 | 4,000 | 166,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 29,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 0 | 54,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 320,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3,000 | 0 | 75,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 25,000 | 50,000 | 1,025,000 | 75,000 | 15,653,500 |
| 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 |
| 2017 Ellis Island 5 Oz Silver Coin* | 0 | 500 | 0 | 39,500 | 500 | 40,000 |
it,s not just N. Korean crisis, more to it than that for haven – safe.