Precious metals gained on Friday, boosting weekly increases for gold and palladium and reducing weekly losses for silver and platinum.
Gold for April delivery rose by $18.70, or 0.9%, to settle at $2,049.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.
"Gold is up primarily on the fact that the U.S. dollar is a little weaker," Reuters quoted Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures.
"It’s a delicate walk right now in the precious metals market, but there is a lot of safe-haven buying despite the rates being as high as they are."
Gold registered a 1.3% weekly increase following two straight weeks of 0.7% losses. Year-to-date, gold prices have fallen by 1.1%.
Snapping a three-session losing streak, March silver advanced by 19.8 cents, or 0.9%, to close at $22.982 an ounce. This week, silver prices dropped by 2.1% following a 3.9% surge last week. Overall, silver is down by 4.6% for the year.
In other precious metals, both on Friday and for the week:
-
April platinum edged up by $4.10, or 0.5%, to end at $909.60 an ounce, resulting in a 0.4% weekly decline.
- Palladium for March delivery jumped by $18.30, or 1.9%, to end at $988.50 an ounce, lifting its weekly gain to 3.8%.
When evaluating their performance during the initial eight weeks of the year, platinum has exhibited a 9.9% decrease, while palladium has experienced a 10.9% decline.
US Mint Bullion Sales in 2024
The published U.S. Mint bullion sales last changed on Thursday, Feb. 15, with gains including 5,000 ounces in American Gold Eagles and 5,000 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) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday / This Week | Last Week | January | February | 2024 Sales | |
| $50 American Eagle 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 3,500 | 87,500 | 6,500 | 94,000 |
| $25 American Eagle 1/2 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 0 | 25,000 | 0 | 25,000 |
| $10 American Eagle 1/4 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 4,000 | 46,000 | 4,000 | 50,000 |
| $5 American Eagle 1/10 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 115,000 | 25,000 | 140,000 |
| $50 American Buffalo 1 Oz Gold Coin | 0 | 5,000 | 46,500 | 5,500 | 52,000 |
| $1 American Eagle 1 Oz Silver Coin | 0 | 0 | 4,900,000 | 850,000 | 5,750,000 |
| $100 American Eagle 1 Oz Platinum Coin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
