Gold price in May 2012: daily prices, high, low and change
Gold closed May 2012 at $1,562.60 an ounce, down 6.06% on the month. The highest close was $1,661.70 on 1 May and the lowest $1,536.20 on 16 May. Every trading day below, with ranks and context computed from COMEX data.
Gold price chart, May 2012 (daily close and high-low range, US$ per ounce)
Gold line = daily settlement; bars = intraday high to low where available; dashed line = April 2012 close ($1,663.40).
Daily gold prices in May 2012 (22 trading days)
| Date | Open | High | Low | Close | Change | % change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 1 May | $1,665.00 | $1,670.50 | $1,661.70 | $1,661.70 | −$1.70 | −0.10% |
| Wed 2 May | $1,659.20 | $1,659.20 | $1,648.30 | $1,653.40 | −$8.30 | −0.50% |
| Thu 3 May | $1,651.20 | $1,652.20 | $1,631.30 | $1,634.20 | −$19.20 | −1.16% |
| Fri 4 May | $1,635.70 | $1,645.60 | $1,629.40 | $1,644.70 | +$10.50 | +0.64% |
| Mon 7 May | $1,637.90 | $1,640.00 | $1,632.60 | $1,638.60 | −$6.10 | −0.37% |
| Tue 8 May worst day | $1,636.70 | $1,636.70 | $1,596.00 | $1,604.00 | −$34.60 | −2.11% |
| Wed 9 May | $1,595.30 | $1,595.30 | $1,586.30 | $1,593.70 | −$10.30 | −0.64% |
| Thu 10 May | $1,594.20 | $1,595.10 | $1,592.40 | $1,595.10 | +$1.40 | +0.09% |
| Fri 11 May | $1,586.10 | $1,589.60 | $1,583.60 | $1,583.60 | −$11.50 | −0.72% |
| Mon 14 May | $1,563.00 | $1,563.10 | $1,555.50 | $1,560.60 | −$23.00 | −1.45% |
| Tue 15 May | $1,555.40 | $1,558.30 | $1,542.40 | $1,556.80 | −$3.80 | −0.24% |
| Wed 16 May | $1,541.40 | $1,541.40 | $1,528.50 | $1,536.20 | −$20.60 | −1.32% |
| Thu 17 May best day | $1,546.90 | $1,579.00 | $1,546.90 | $1,574.50 | +$38.30 | +2.49% |
| Fri 18 May | $1,573.70 | $1,591.60 | $1,568.20 | $1,591.60 | +$17.10 | +1.09% |
| Mon 21 May | $1,591.90 | $1,594.10 | $1,588.40 | $1,588.40 | −$3.20 | −0.20% |
| Tue 22 May | $1,575.70 | $1,578.10 | $1,568.40 | $1,576.30 | −$12.10 | −0.76% |
| Wed 23 May | $1,538.20 | $1,548.10 | $1,534.40 | $1,548.10 | −$28.20 | −1.79% |
| Thu 24 May | $1,559.00 | $1,569.40 | $1,551.50 | $1,557.30 | +$9.20 | +0.59% |
| Fri 25 May | $1,558.20 | $1,568.80 | $1,557.30 | $1,568.80 | +$11.50 | +0.74% |
| Tue 29 May | $1,574.70 | $1,582.50 | $1,548.60 | $1,548.60 | −$20.20 | −1.29% |
| Wed 30 May | $1,553.90 | $1,569.00 | $1,530.40 | $1,563.40 | +$14.80 | +0.96% |
| Thu 31 May | $1,562.70 | $1,572.60 | $1,551.80 | $1,562.60 | −$0.80 | −0.05% |
Close = COMEX gold futures settlement in US dollars per troy ounce; change is against the previous trading day's close.
Monthly open, high, low and close
| May 2012 | Open | High | Low | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settlements | $1,661.70 | $1,661.70 | $1,536.20 | $1,562.60 | −6.06% |
| Intraday | $1,665.00 | $1,670.50 1 May | $1,528.50 16 May | $1,562.60 | — |
Settlements: first, highest, lowest and last daily close of the month (the basis used on the 2012 page and the monthly returns heatmap). Intraday: the highest and lowest traded prices in the daily bars.
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 2012: summary
Gold slumped 6.06% in May 2012, settling the month at $1,562.60 an ounce against $1,663.40 at the end of April 2012. Settlement prices ranged from $1,536.20 on 16 May 2012 to $1,661.70 on 1 May 2012, a spread of $125.50 (7.5%), narrower than the 8.3% average of the previous 12 months. Gold closed higher on 7 of 22 trading days and lower on 15; the strongest session was 17 May 2012 (+2.49%) and the weakest 8 May 2012 (−2.11%).
On the monthly change, May 2012 was the worst May since 2001. It was gold's 4th monthly loss in a row.
How May 2012 compares
- Against other Mays: at −6.06%, May 2012 ranks 26th of 26 Mays since 2001 (best first), the worst since 2001.
- Against every month: it ranks 296th of 313 months since September 2000, better than 5% of them.
- Range: the gap between the highest and lowest close was $125.50, or 7.5% of the opening level, 0.9× the 8.3% average of the previous 12 months.
- Daily moves: the average day moved 0.88% (up or down), against 1.00% over the previous 12 months, so May 2012 was about as volatile as usual.
- Streaks: the longest run of higher closes was 2 days and the longest run of lower closes 4 days.
- Bigger picture: at the month-end close gold was −0.20% for 2012 to the end of May and +1.74% over 12 months (against the May 2011 close of $1,535.90).
- Average price: the mean of the 22 daily closes was $1,588.28; the World Bank's monthly average of the London (LBMA) price was $1,589.00.
Across the other 25 completed Mays since 2001, gold averaged +0.52% and rose in 13 of them (52%). May 2012 lagged that average by 6.6 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 2012 in today's dollars
Adjusted for US consumer-price inflation, the $1,562.60 closing price equals about $2,298 in September 2026 dollars (CPI 228.7 in May 2012 against 336.3 in September 2026, FRED series CPIAUCSL), 47% 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 2012
The gold price in 2012 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 2012?
Gold closed May 2012 at $1,562.60 an ounce (COMEX settlement). It opened the month at $1,661.70 and averaged $1,588.28 across 22 trading days; the World Bank’s London average for the month was $1,589.00.
Did gold go up in May 2012?
No. Gold was down 6.06% in May 2012, from $1,663.40 at the end of April 2012 to $1,562.60. It closed higher on 7 of 22 days. Among Mays since 2001 it ranks 26th of 26 (best first).
What was the highest gold price in May 2012?
The highest close was $1,661.70 on 1 May 2012. The highest intraday price in the daily bars was $1,670.50 on 1 May 2012.
What was the lowest gold price in May 2012?
The lowest close was $1,536.20 on 16 May 2012, $125.50 (7.5%) below the month’s highest close. The lowest intraday price was $1,528.50 on 16 May 2012.
Educational information only, not financial advice and not a forecast. Past prices do not predict future prices. See our risk disclaimer and editorial policy.