Spot platinum on Monday touched a two-and-a-half month low of $824 an ounce on continued long position liquidation, due to the strong United States dollar.
At 12.15pm, platinum was quoted at $829/oz, down $19.50/oz from Friday’s New York close of $848,50/oz. Earlier on Monday, the euro fell to a five-month low of $1,1762.
At 12.15pm, the euro was quoted at $1,1834, up $0,0033 from the Friday New York close of $1,1801.
“Platinum is down due to long position liquidation as a result of the strong US dollar,” said TheBullionDesk.com analyst Ross Norman.
“It is worrying that the recent sharp fall in the platinum price, from $920/oz last Wednesday to just above $820/oz, hasn’t yet been accompanied by any strong retracement, driven by industrial buying of the metal,” Norman added.
Platinum, used mainly in jewellery and auto catalysts, is supported by its strong fundamentals with demand continuing to exceed supply for the sixth consecutive year.
New York Mercantile Exchange or Nymex speculators cut their net positions by 5 700 oz in the six days to April 20, while in palladium 108 000 oz of net positions were liquidated.
Since last Tuesday, Nymex speculators have continued to cut their positions in both platinum and palladium with the open interest in both metals declining.
“Platinum fell sharply again during Asian trading this morning, as large long positions on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange or Tocom were liquidated again,” London-based UBS analyst John Reade said in a note on Monday.
However, Reade expects that the long position liquidation in platinum is coming to an end and platinum should rally again on Chinese demand.
Like its sister metal platinum, palladium on Monday declined due to continued long position liquidation.
At 12.15pm, spot palladium was quoted at $271/oz, down $8/oz from Friday’s New York close of $279/oz.
Spot gold on Monday afternoon ticked higher, due to the recovery in both the euro and the yen against the US dollar, gold traders and analysts said.
At 12.15pm, gold was quoted at $396,13/oz, up $1,33/oz from Friday’s New York close of $394,80/oz. The US dollar was last quoted weaker against the yen at 108,85 yen, down 0,20 yen from late New York trade on Friday of 109,05 yen.
“Gold [has] rallied on Monday as the euro has regained some ground,” UBS’s Reade said.
The rand-gold price was last quoted at R84,830 a kilogramme, down 0,7% or R593 from Friday’s close of R85,423/kg. — I-Net Bridge