In kicking off the new trading week on Monday, silver, platinum and palladium climbed while gold declined for a third straight sessions after notching a nine-month high.
Gold for April delivery — the new, most-active contract — shed $6.40, or 0.3%, to close at $1,939.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is seeing a mild corrective pullback and a bit of profit taking from futures traders after prices last week hit a nine-month high, and just ahead of this week’s highly anticipated monetary policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
The FOMC’s two-day monetary policy meeting begins on Tuesday.
Gold futures traded between $1,936.20 and $1,950.10. They edged 0.06% higher last week for their sixth straight weekly increase. On Wednesday, gold at $1,942.60 an ounce registered its best settlement since April 21.
Silver for March delivery rose 11.1 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $23.733 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $23.63 to $23.92. They declined 1.3% last week.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
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April platinum added $3.80, or 0.4%, to $1,020.60 an ounce, trading between $1,011.50 and $1,025.80.
- Palladium for March delivery gained $28.30, or 1.8%, to $1,628 an ounce, ranging from $1,600 to $1,646.
Last week, platinum fell 3% and palladium plunged 7.2%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Published United States Mint bullion sales were unchanged on Monday. 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 | November | December | 2022 Sales | Last Week | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 6,000 | 4,000 | 850,000 | 3,500 | 104,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 75,000 | 0 | 35,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140,000 | 0 | 52,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 575,000 | 0 | 115,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,500 | 0 | 410,000 | 9,000 | 53,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 1,407,000 | 59,000 | 15,963,500 | 0 | 3,949,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80,000 | 0 | 0 |
