Precious metals split in kicking off the new trading week on Monday. Gold and silver gained, logging their third straight session increase, while platinum and palladium declined.
Gold for December delivery rose $9.20, or 0.5%, to settle at $1,767.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"We’re seeing more risk aversion in the markets and gold appears to be benefiting from that. Quite often we’ve seen the dollar do well in these conditions which has dragged on gold, but we’re seeing the opposite today," Reuters quoted OANDA analyst Craig Erlam.
Gold futures ranged from a low of $1,747.70 to a high of $1,771.50. They edged 0.4% higher last week.
Silver for December delivery climbed 10.8 cents, or 0.5%, to close at $22.644 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $22.90 and $22.81. They gained 0.5% last week.
In other precious metal futures prices on Monday:
-
January platinum lost $12, or 1.2%, to $961.60 an ounce, ranging from $943 to $981.10.
- Palladium for December delivery fell $28.70, or 1.5%, to $1,875 an ounce, trading between $1,858 and $1,929.50.
Last week platinum lost 0.6% and palladium dropped 2.4%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2021
The United States Mint published bullion sales gains for the first time this month. Increases include a 396,000 ounces in silver coins and a combined 72,500 ounces in gold coins.
Below is a sales breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products with columns listing the number of coins sold during varying periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday / Oct. | Last Week | August | September | 2021 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 59,500 | 0 | 112,000 | 67,500 | 873,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 21,000 | 4,000 | 81,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 34,000 | 8,000 | 128,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 5,000 | 0 | 50,000 | 35,000 | 370,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 12,500 | 0 | 27,500 | 24,000 | 272,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 396,000 | 0 | 3,930,000 | 2,735,000 | 26,071,500 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 |
| Tuskegee Airmen 5 oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52,900 |
