Palladium registered a healthy gain on Monday, platinum remained nearly unchanged, while gold and silver declined from multi-week highs.
Snapping a four-session winning streak, gold for December delivery shed $6.60, or 0.3%, to settle at $1,987.80 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold and silver prices are a modestly down near midday Monday, on some routine corrective, consolidative pressure following recent gains. Some profit taking by the shorter-term futures traders is also featured," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note. "Bulls in both markets are still confident and are likely to step in to buy the dips at some point soon."
Gold futures traded between $1,971 and $1,994.30. They advanced 2.7% last week, ending Friday at their highest price since July 31.
Meanwhile, silver for December delivery fell by 29.4 cents, or 1.2%, closing at $23.21 an ounce. Silver futures ranged from $22.89 to $23.51. They gained 2.7% last week, like gold, and ended Friday at their best price since Sept. 22.
In other precious metals prices on Monday:
-
January platinum edged down 10 cents, or 0.01%, to $905 an ounce, trading between $894.50 and $907.80.
- Palladium for December delivery increased by $28, or 2.5%, to $1,139.20 an ounce, ranging from $1,088 to $1,146.50.
Last week, platinum climbed by 2.4%, while palladium declined by 3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
On Monday, the U.S. Mint increased its bullion sales for October, with reported gains totaling 9,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 1,019,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 4,500 ounces in American Gold Buffalos.
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 | August | September | October | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 7,500 | 24,000 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 93,000 | 865,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 1,000 | 1,000 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 4,000 | 92,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 4,000 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 18,000 | 182,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 15,000 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 605,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 4,500 | 7,500 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 33,500 | 364,500 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 1,019,000 | 751,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 3,306,000 | 21,215,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
