(Updates prices, adds Implat's results)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Platinum hit a record above
$2,000 an ounce on Thursday as creaky power supply in main
producer South Africa saw another miner report weak earnings
and spurred buying from investors and automakers.
Spot platinum <XPT=> jumped as high as $2,002 an ounce, up
from $1,985/1,995 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday. Gold
<XAU=> rose to $908.30/909.10 an ounce from 906.70/907.50 late
in New York.
Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd (Implats) <IMPJ.J>, the
world's second largest producer, on Thursday reported a 6.3
percent fall in half-year headline earnings and forecast very
tight market conditions. []
"South African supply constraints due to electric power...
coupled with stable to firm automotive demand will result in
very tight market conditions in 2008 for both platinum and
rhodium," Implats' Chief Executive Officer David Brown said.
Yukuji Sonoda, precious metals analyst at Daiichi
Commodities in Tokyo, said automakers were accumulating
platinum stocks to last up to six months for fear of further
price rises.
"Automobile companies are rushing to buy actual platinum.
That's the most important point. They are unwillingly buying
platinum ingots," he said, also pointing to investor purchases.
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, there was still
room for gains.
South Africa's state-owned power utility has told miners it
would not be able to supply their full electricity needs for a
few years. []
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 hovered below an 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 $440/444 an ounce from $430/435 an
ounce late in New York. Silver <XAG=> edged up to $17.39/17.44
an ounce from $17.28/17.33 in New York.
COMEX's April gold futures <GCJ8> rose $1.7 an ounce to
$911.9 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 0640 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 908.40 2.30 +0.25 9.09
Spot Silver 17.38 0.12 +0.70 17.67
Spot Platinum 1997.00 12.00 +0.60 31.38
Spot Palladium 440.00 10.00 +2.33 19.57
TOCOM Gold 3188.00 73.00 +2.34 4.18
71048
TOCOM Platinum 6465.00 240.00 +3.86 21.09
4399
TOCOM Silver 609.50 23.40 +3.99 12.66
1792
TOCOM Palladium 1561.00 80.00 +5.40 15.54
9177
Euro/Dollar 1.4569
Dollar/Yen 108.32
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Editing by )
