December Gold closed up 3.8 at 1278. This was 3.6 up from the low and 1.9 off the high.

December Silver finished up 0.00169 at 0.1704, 0.0003 off the high and 0.0022 up from the low.

 

Gold was moderately higher on Monday, supported by some flight to quality issues as well as labor problems in South Africa. Employees at Harmony Gold’s Kusalethu mine have got out on strike, which the company deems illegal, and this “illegality” charge could make traders concerned about possible unrest going forward. Adding to safe-haven interests were a pipeline bombing in Bahrain over the weekend and political troubles for UK Prime Minister Theresa May. Depsite being higher on the day, December did not make it out of the lower half of Friday’s big range down or above the 21-day moving average. December silver fared somewhat better, as it managed to trade up to within 3 cents of Friday’s high. Platinum was higher and palladium was, as the correction in the palladium/platinum spread continued. On Friday the spread traded to a multi-decade high at +$79 but then reversed lower, and this could spark some covering of spread positions.