(Updates prices)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Platinum spiked to another
record high above $1,800 an ounce on Tuesday, with South
African mines reporting slow progress in jacking up production
in the midst of an electricity supply crisis.
Platinum's rally lifted sister metal palladium to a six-year
high but gold struggled after a drop to its lowest in nearly
two weeks at $891.65 an ounce on Monday as investors booked
profits from last week's record high of $936.50 an ounce.
Spot platinum <XPT=> rose to $1,807.50/1,812.50 an ounce
from $1,790/1,800 late in New York on Monday. Palladium jumped
to $426/430 an ounce, its best level since early 2002, from
$423/428 late in the U.S. market.
Platinum and palladium are used in jewellery and in vehicle
catalysts, where they help clean exhaust gases.
"The demand is here. I think $2,000 seems to be the next
target," said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers
in Hong Kong.
"Speculators are buying platinum," he said.
The worst was far from over for South African mines, which
produce four-fifths of the world's platinum, after state power
firm Eskom allowed them only limited increases in their
electricity consumption.
Tokyo platinum futures were also at record highs. The
benchmark platinum futures contract <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo
Commodity Exchange ended the morning session 56 yen per gram
higher at 5,924 yen.
Gold was under pressure this week, overshadowed by
platinum, after Friday's rally to record high induced profit
taking, but some dealers said the metal was still on track to
touch new highs due to uncertainties in the dollar's outlook.
Spot gold <XAU=> was at $904.85/905.60 an ounce, hardly
changed from $904.40/905.10 late in New York. The metal has
gone up more than 12 percent this year.
The price of gold is likely to peak at just over $1,000 per
ounce in 2008 and benefit from any weakening of the U.S.
economy as investors seek new havens for their funds,
London-based consultancy GFMS said on Monday. []
"Some of the factors that have supported the gold price
still remain present," said David Moore, a commodity analyst at
the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
"For the time being, the possiblity of further U.S.
interest rate cuts in coming months, maybe some further
fragility in the U.S. dollar, concerns over potential inflation
are factors that might see gold being very volatile but
volatile at higher level."
The U.S. Federal Reserve cut a benchmark interest rate by a
cumulative 1.25 percentage points in the last two weeks of
January to 3 percent in an effort to prevent the economy from
sliding into recession.
The euro was at $1.4826 <EUR=> after rising on Friday to
just below the lifetime high of $1.4968 after U.S. data showing
companies shed workers in January for the first time in 4-
