Except for silver, which reached another 6.5-month high and pushed its price higher for the month with a double-digit percent gain, precious metals declined on Thursday. Gold’s loss marked its first in five sessions, after scoring an about 3.3-year high on Wednesday, but the yellow metal still recorded a substantial November increase.
Gold for February delivery declined by $9.90, or 0.5%, to settle at $2,057.20 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold prices are moderately down in midday U.S. trading Thursday, on a routine corrective pullback in an uptrend following recent good gains," Jim Wyckoff, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc, said in a daily research note. "A solid rebound in the U.S. dollar index today and lower crude oil prices are daily outside-market negatives for the metals markets."
Gold prices rose by 3.2% in November, bringing the year-to-date increase to 12.7%. This marks the second consecutive monthly gain, following a 6.9% increase in October. On Wednesday, gold reached its highest settlement since August 6, 2020.
Rising for a fifth straight session, silver for March delivery tacked on 21.7 cents, or 0.9%, to close at $25.66 an ounce. The settlement was the highest since May 9 when the metal closed at $25.898 an ounce.
Silver rallied 11.8% in November, lifting prices by 6.7% for the year to date. Silver’s monthly gain was also its second in a row, with prices rising 2.2% in October.
In other precious metals prices on Thursday and for the month:
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January platinum gave back $5.50, or 0.6%, to end at $935.90 an ounce, padding its November loss to 1%.
- Falling for a third session, palladium for March delivery lost $21.10, or 2%, to end at $1,020.40 an ounce. Palladium sank by 9.4% in November.
When evaluating their performance from the start of the year to the present day, platinum has posted a decrease of 13.6%, while palladium has experienced a more substantial decline of 43.3%.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2023
U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Wednesday, and those gains were the third for this month. Advances included 15,500 ounces in American Gold Eagles, 939,000 ounces in American Silver Eagles, and 1,500 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) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thursday | Last Week | This Week | August | September | October | November | 2023 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 12,500 | 78,000 | 27,500 | 97,000 | 35,000 | 904,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 2,000 | 2,000 | 13,000 | 7,000 | 6,000 | 101,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 4,000 | 2,000 | 30,000 | 18,000 | 14,000 | 196,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 10,000 | 150,000 | 40,000 | 30,000 | 55,000 | 660,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 1,500 | 19,500 | 18,500 | 36,500 | 11,500 | 379,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 939,000 | 3,124,000 | 2,970,000 | 3,938,000 | 2,378,000 | 24,225,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12,700 |
