SINGAPORE. — Palladium climbed for a 13th session yesterday to trade near its highest since 2001 on concern about supply constraints in South Africa, while strong demand for the metal from the car industry also underpinned prices. Gold inched up as the world’s top bullion fund saw a second consecutive day of inflows, even as markets awaited the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s June policy meeting to gauge the US central bank’s outlook for the economy and interest rates.

Prices of platinum group metals (PGMs) have been boosted this year as a result of the five-month strike in South Africa. Though the strike ended last month, there are lingering supply concerns in the market.

“PGMs have some more upside because the market is not convinced producers can quickly ramp up output to pre-strike levels,” said a trader in Tokyo.

The trader also said another short strike at Impala Platinum’s Marula mine that ended on Tuesday and a widespread car industry strike underscored the fickle situation in South Africa.

Palladium rose 0,4 percent to $870,70/oz by 3.24am GMT. It hit a 13-year high of $873,75 on Tuesday. Platinum rose 0,8 percent. The metal, mainly used in auto-catalysts, also got a boost from data last week that showed that US car sales hit an eight-year high in June.

SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings rose 2,09 tonnes to 800,28 tonnes on Tuesday, after gaining 1,8 tonnes on Monday.

Demand for gold was boosted by violence in the Middle East and Ukraine. Gold is often seen as a safe-haven asset compared with riskier assets such as equities.

Bullion investors were also awaiting the minutes of the Fed policy meeting later today for clues on the timing of a rate hike.
A strong US jobs report last week stoked fears of an earlier than expected rate hike in the world’s largest economy. —Reuters.

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey