by Justin Brown –
Spot platinum on Thursday established a fresh 25-year high of $958 a troy ounce on continued fund buying of the metal, while sister metal palladium climbed to a 17-month high of $242.50/oz as the commodity played catch up with platinum, traders said.
At 1.30pm, platinum was quoted at $957.50/oz, up $6/oz from its previous close of $951.50/oz.
Palladium was last quoted at $241.50/oz, $6.50/oz up from the metal’s previous close.
“Palladium is higher in tandem with platinum, which is trading at a 25-year highs as well as speculative interest from the funds in the metal. Palladium has been lagging the performance of the rest of the precious and base metals and may now be playing catch up,” a London-based trader said.
“I think there is more upside potential for the price of platinum. However, the fundamentals for the metal remain unchanged,” he added.
Palladium is largely used in the manufacture of autocatalysts.
Rhodium was last at $2800/oz near its recent high of $2900/oz achieved in early October.
At 1.30pm, spot gold was quoted at $467.05/oz from Wednesday’s close of $467.10/oz, while the euro was quoted at $1.1775 from a close of $1.1763.
“There is increasing upside for gold due to the recovery in the euro, which could pop back to between $1.19 and $1.20. Gold could retest $470/oz in tandem with the euro,” a Johannesburg trader said.
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