Following an extended weekend for the Easter holiday, precious metal prices dropped, with silver decreasing by 0.7% and palladium by 3.8%.
Gold for June delivery gave back $22.60, or 1.1%, and settled at $2,003.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices are sharply lower in midday U.S. trading Monday, on some profit-taking pressure from the shorter-term futures traders and as the U.S. dollar index is solidly up today, on a rebound after last week hitting a two-month low. Silver prices are just modestly down. Still, both metals are in firmly bullish technical postures to suggest more upside for prices in the near term," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $1,996.50 and $2,021.50, following their sixth straight winning week in which prices have advanced a combined $209.30 or 11.5%. Last Tuesday, gold ended at $2,038.20 an ounce, which marked its highest settlement since March 8, 2022.
Meanwhile, silver for May delivery fell 18.1 cents to finish at $24.912 an ounce. Silver futures traded within a range of $24.77 to $25.24. They also continued their winning streak last week for the fourth consecutive time, with a combined increase of $4.59 or 22.4%. Last Tuesday, silver settled at $25.101 an ounce, which marked its best settlement since April 20, 2022.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
July platinum shed $13.90, or 1.4%, and closed at $1,002.90 an ounce, trading within a range of $995.80 to $1,026.70.
- Palladium for June delivery tumbled $54.80 to end at $1,407.60 an ounce, with a trading range of $1,408 to $1,468.
Last week, platinum gained 1.4% while palladium decreased by 0.4%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint published bullion sales were unchanged on Monday. The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | January Sales | February | March | April | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 53,500 | 118,000 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 18,000 | 388,500 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 37,000 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 62,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 94,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 115,000 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 | 230,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,500 | 59,000 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 9,500 | 161,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 3,949,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 450,000 | 6,199,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 8,000 |
