Precious metals kicked of the new trading week on Monday with increases that ranged from 0.1% for gold to 1.1% for palladium. Gains in gold and silver were their first in four sessions.
Gold for June delivery rose by $2.90 to settle at $2,022.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Technically, June gold futures bulls still have the solid overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are in a 2.5-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart. Bulls’ next upside price objective is to produce a close above solid resistance at the record high of $2,085.40. Bears’ next near-term downside price objective is pushing futures prices below solid technical support at $1,980.90,” Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note.
Gold futures traded between $2,011.20 and $2,027.50. They dipped nearly 0.3% last week, ending Friday at their lowest point since May 1.
Meanwhile, silver for July delivery added 13.7 cents, or 0.6%, settling at $24.291 an ounce. Silver futures traded between $24.05 and $24.40. The plunged by 6.9% last week, closing Friday at their worst price since April 3.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
July platinum climbed by $7.70, or 0.7%, to $1,074.70 an ounce, ranging from $1,057.50 to $1,079.10.
- Palladium for June delivery tacked on $16.50 to $1,530.30, trading between $1,506 and $1,547.
Last week, platinum shed 0.1% while palladium gained 1.8%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
Sales figures published by the U.S. Mint on Monday showed an increase in bullion coins of:
- 26,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles,
- 9,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos, and
- 403,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles.
The table below presents a breakdown of U.S. Mint bullion products sold, with columns indicating the number of coins sold (not total ounces) during different time periods.
| US Mint Bullion Sales (# of coins) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Last Week | February | March | April | May | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 21,500 | 13,000 | 41,500 | 211,000 | 159,000 | 34,500 | 564,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 8,000 | 1,000 | 8,000 | 0 | 54,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 18,000 | 18,000 | 12,000 | 10,000 | 12,000 | 18,000 | 132,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 85,000 | 10,000 | 35,000 | 0 | 245,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 9,500 | 23,000 | 19,500 | 73,000 | 61,000 | 32,500 | 245,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 403,000 | 450,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 900,000 | 853,000 | 7,502,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | N/A | 7,500 | 500 | 0 | 8,000 |
