Gold price in May 2003: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2003 at $364.50 an ounce, up 7.49% on the month. The highest close was $372.00 on 21 May and the lowest $341.00 on 2 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2003 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2003 close ($339.10).
Daily gold prices in May 2003 (21 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu 1 May | — | — | — | $342.10 | +$3.00 | +0.88% |
| Fri 2 May | — | — | — | $341.00 | −$1.10 | −0.32% |
| Mon 5 May | — | — | — | $342.30 | +$1.30 | +0.38% |
| Tue 6 May | — | — | — | $342.50 | +$0.20 | +0.06% |
| Wed 7 May | — | — | — | $341.90 | −$0.60 | −0.18% |
| Thu 8 May | — | — | — | $348.40 | +$6.50 | +1.90% |
| Fri 9 May | — | — | — | $348.60 | +$0.20 | +0.06% |
| Mon 12 May | — | — | — | $351.60 | +$3.00 | +0.86% |
| Tue 13 May | — | — | — | $350.00 | −$1.60 | −0.46% |
| Wed 14 May | — | — | — | $352.30 | +$2.30 | +0.66% |
| Thu 15 May | — | — | — | $352.60 | +$0.30 | +0.09% |
| Fri 16 May | — | — | — | $354.70 | +$2.10 | +0.60% |
| Mon 19 May best day | — | — | — | $364.20 | +$9.50 | +2.68% |
| Tue 20 May | — | — | — | $366.30 | +$2.10 | +0.58% |
| Wed 21 May | — | — | — | $372.00 | +$5.70 | +1.56% |
| Thu 22 May | — | — | — | $368.10 | −$3.90 | −1.05% |
| Fri 23 May | — | — | — | $368.80 | +$0.70 | +0.19% |
| Tue 27 May | — | — | — | $367.80 | −$1.00 | −0.27% |
| Wed 28 May | $367.00 | $367.30 | $358.60 | $365.20 | −$2.60 | −0.71% |
| Thu 29 May | $365.10 | $370.00 | $360.20 | $369.60 | +$4.40 | +1.20% |
| Fri 30 May worst day | $368.60 | $369.60 | $360.50 | $364.50 | −$5.10 | −1.38% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close. Open, high and low are shown as — on 18 days where the source has no usable intraday data (common before 2012, when the front-month contract traded thinly in the data feed).
Monthly open, high, low and close
| May 2003 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $342.10 | $372.00 | $341.00 | $364.50 | +7.49% |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2003 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday highs and lows are not shown because the source lacks usable intraday data for part of this month.
Source: COMEX gold futures (GC=F) daily settlements and intraday bars via Yahoo Finance; US CPI (FRED CPIAUCSL) for the inflation adjustment; World Bank Pink Sheet for the monthly London average. Figures are final settlements; sources may occasionally revise historical data.
Gold in May 2003: summary
Gold soared 7.49% in May 2003, finishing at $364.50 an ounce against $339.10 at the end of April 2003. Gold closed higher on 14 of 21 trading days and lower on 7; the strongest session was 19 May 2003 (+2.68%) and the weakest 30 May 2003 (−1.38%). Settlement prices ranged from $341.00 on 2 May 2003 to $372.00 on 21 May 2003, a spread of $31.00 (9.1%), wider than the 5.9% average of the previous 12 months.
On the monthly change, May 2003 was the 3rd-best May of the 26 since 2001. The +2.68% move on 19 May 2003 was the largest one-day gain of 2003.
How May 2003 compares
- Against other Mays: at +7.49%, May 2003 ranks 3rd of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first).
- Against every month: it ranks 28th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 91% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $31.00, or 9.1% of the opening level, 1.5× the 5.9% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 0.76% (up or down), against 0.75% over the previous 12 months, so May 2003 was about as volatile as usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 6 days and the longest run of lower closes 2 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was +4.86% for 2003 to the end of May and +11.64% over 12 months (against the May 2002 close of $326.50).
- Average price: the mean of the 21 daily closes was $355.93; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $356.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged −0.02% and rose in 12 of them (48%). May 2003 beat that average by 7.5 percentage points. The gold seasonality tool shows the same statistics for every calendar month, and the monthly returns heatmap lays out all Mays side by side.
May 2003 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $364.50 closing price equals about $670 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 182.9 in May 2003 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 84% more than the nominal figure. The gold price history hub restates every year's close on the same basis, and the all-time-high tracker lists every record close in nominal dollars.
Gold price by month in 2003
The gold price in 2003 page has the year's open, high, low and close, and the monthly archive on the gold price history hub explains how these month pages are built.
Frequently asked questions
What was the gold price in May 2003?
Gold closed May 2003 at $364.50 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $342.10 and averaged $355.93 across 21 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $356.00.
Did gold go up in May 2003?
Yes. Gold was up 7.49% in May 2003, from $339.10 at the end of April 2003 to $364.50. It closed higher on 14 of 21 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 3rd of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2003?
The highest close was $372.00 on 21 May 2003.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2003?
The lowest close was $341.00 on 2 May 2003, $31.00 (9.1%) below the month’s highest close.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.