Platinum prices rise on supply concerns

By The NewsDay | Feb. 14, 2013 | 2 Min read

PLATINUM advanced for a second day, widening its premium to gold on concern supply will tighten after Zimbabwe seized land from the country’s biggest miner of the metal. Palladium climbed to the highest level since September 2011.

Spot platinum gained as much as 0,6% to $1 728,75 an ounce, and traded at $1 721,75 in Singapore. One ounce of platinum bought as much as 1,0466 ounces of gold yesterday , the most since August 2011, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Spot gold rose as much as 0,2% to $1 653,60 an ounce, after dropping to a one-month low of $1,639.45 on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe, which has the second-largest platinum reserves after South Africa, repossessed some land owned by Zimplats Holdings Ltd. to offer to new investors, Mines minister Obert Mpofu said yesterday.

Platinum has risen 12% in 2013 after the world’s largest producer, Anglo-American Platinum Ltd., said last month that it would cut output even amid prospects for increased auto-demand as the global economy recovers.

“Platinum prices lifted after Zimbabwe’s government repossessed mining land from Zimplats, heightening supply concerns,” Lachlan Shaw, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in an e-mail today.

Cash palladium rose as much as 0,4% to $774,75 an ounce, the most expensive since September 2011. The metal is mined alongside platinum and both are used mainly in autocatalysts. Palladium assets in exchange-traded products held at an 18-month high of 65.0744 metric tons yesterday. Spot gold climbed 0,1% to

$1 653,20 an ounce, extending Tuesday’s 0,2% advance. The dollar weakened against a six-currency basket as the yen rallied before a Group of 20 meeting at which leaders are expected to debate the Japanese currency’s recent decline. The greenback halted a four-day advance yesterday after Group of Seven officials vowed to avoid devaluing their exchange rates for economic growth.

“The G7 pledged to avoid devaluing their currencies, resulting in the US dollar weakening and encouraging the appeal of dollar-denominated assets,” CBA’s Shaw wrote.