(Updates to afternoon)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Platinum hit another record
high on Thursday, moving closer to $2,000 an ounce, as power
supply problems in main producer South Africa persisted and
prompted buying from investors and automakers.
Spot platinum <XPT=> jumped as high as $1,995 an ounce
before slipping to $1,985/1,995 an ounce on profit taking,
unchanged from late New York levels on Wednesday.
According to charts, platinum was overbought with the
14-day relative strength indicator standing above 80. But with
no end in sight to mining disruptions in South Africa, which
produces some 80 percent of the world's metal, the room for
gains was unlimited.
"Automobile companies are rushing to buy actual platinum.
That's the most important point. They are unwillingly buying
platinum ingots," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst
at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo.
"Investment buying is already very strong," said Sonoda,
adding that automakers were accumulating platinum stocks to
last them for up to six months for fear of further rises.
News that South Africa's state-owned power utility would
not be able to supply miners with electricity needs for a few
years ignited buying for the metal used in jewellery and auto
catalysts to clean exhaust fumes. []
"They say there will be a few more years like this," said
Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers in Hong Kong.
Platinum was likely to breach the next target of $2,000 an
ounce before undergoing a correction and then starting another
rally, he said.
Senior sources close to South Africa's state utility Eskom
told Reuters it was considering a complete power supply
buy-back from all of the country's aluminium smelters plus one
in Mozambique for the balance of 2008 as part of a multi-strand
approach to solving the country's power crisis. []
The benchmark platinum futures contract for December
delivery <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose by its
daily 240 yen limit to a record high of 6,465 yen a gram,
catching up with the cash market.
Gold <XAU=> was at $906.60/907.40 an ounce, hardly changed
from late New York levels of $906.70/907.50 and off an all time
high of $936.50 hit in early February.
"You can say there's a squaring in positions ahead of the
holiday," said Leung of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers, referring to
the Presidents Day holiday in the United States next Monday.
"I think $910 should be resistance and support is at $900.
It's a $10 range," he said.
Industry-sponsored World Gold Council said on Wednesday
global gold demand in the fourth quarter fell 17 percent
year-on-year to 843.0 tonnes due to a sharp drop in jewellery
buying by top consumer India. []
Palladium <XPD=> rose to $437/442 an ounce from $430/435 an
ounce late in New York. Silver <XAG=> edged up to $17.33/17.38
an ounce from $17.28/17.33 in New York.
COMEX's April gold futures <GCJ8> edged up $0.4 an ounce to
$910.6 an ounce.
The euro <EUR=> inched down to $1.4563, while the dollar
<JPY=> was little changed at 108.20 yen after surprisingly
strong U.S retail sales data provided some relief to concerns
the U.S. economy was slipping into a recession.
Precious metals prices at 0526 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 906.60 0.50 +0.06 8.87
Spot Silver 17.33 0.07 +0.41 17.33
Spot Platinum 1987.00 2.00 +0.10 30.72
Spot Palladium 437.00 7.00 +1.63 18.75
TOCOM Gold 3177.00 62.00 +1.99 3.82
56740
TOCOM Platinum 6465.00 240.00 +3.86 21.09
4133
TOCOM Silver 607.30 21.20 +3.62 12.26
1432
TOCOM Palladium 1558.00 77.00 +5.20 15.32
7481
Euro/Dollar 1.4569
Dollar/Yen 108.26
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by Michael Urquhart)
