(Updates prices, adds physical activity)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, March 11 (Reuters) - Platinum, used in auto
catalysts and jewellery, rallied 4 percent on Tuesday as
speculators jumped into the market after a drop the previous
day, while gold tracked oil's fall from record highs.
Weaker gold attracted buying from jewellers and investors
in Thailand but holders in Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest
consumer, sold bullion to get cash after the rupiah <IDR=> hit
a one-month low against the dollar.
Spot platinum <XPT=> hit a high of $2,060 an ounce, up from
$1,980/1,990 late in New York on Monday, when it tumbled to its
lowest in almost four weeks at $1,926 on news that miners in
South Africa would get more power supply. Supply concerns
triggered by mining disruptions in South Africa, the world's
main producer, propelled platinum to a record high of $2,290 an
ounce on March 4. The metal has risen as much as 50 percent in
2008.
"Fundamentally, the platinum market is still driven by
fears of tight supply. It's difficult for us to expect miners
to go back to full operation without enough power supply," said
a precious metals dealer in Tokyo.
"Investment demand is quite strong and I don't think supply
will catch up with demand. Of course, the price will go up
quite fast, but profit taking will also happen because
speculators want to enjoy a huge amount of profit," he said.
South African power utility Eskom [] is in the
process of restoring power to 95 percent of normal levels to
the mining industry and will, following the same process,
restore power IN full eventually to all industrial consumers
including mining companies, the power industry source said.
Analysts say the global platinum deficit could widen to
500,000 to 600,000 ounces by the end of 2008, compared with
about 265,000 ounces in 2007. The market had a surplus of
65,000 ounces in 2006, following seven successive years of
deficits.
"I think the market would need further downward correction
before it can climb strongly again," said Hisaaki Tasaka,
analyst at Ace Koeki Co Ltd in Tokyo, adding that charts
suggested the metal was still in downward corrective phase.
Gold <XAU=> slipped to $972.40/973.20 an ounce from
$974.10/974.90 late in New York on Monday and remained below a
record high of $991.90 an ounce hit on March 6.
Gold struggled to sustain the uptrend after a failure to
break through the $1,000 barrier last week. It has gone up as
much as 19 percent in 2008, driven by record high oil and
expectations of further interest rates cuts in the United
States.
"The key resistance is currently at $992 and only on a
breach of this level gold's move beyond $1,000 can be
confirmed," said Pradeep Unni, analyst at Vision Commodities in
Dubai.
"Alternatively, if gold slips below $970, then it could
slide to $940 levels."
Oil was steady below a record near $108 a barrel as
investors sought a hedge against a weak dollarand inflation.
[]
Gold futures for April delivery <GCJ8> on the COMEX
division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $4.1 an ounce
to $975.9.
The benchmark platinum futures contract for February
delivery <0#JPL:> on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange fell 182 yen
per gram to 6,525 yen, hit by a firming yen.
Silver <XAG=> edged down to $19.62/19.67 an ounce from
$19.64/19.69. Spot palladium <XPD=> rose to $471/476 an ounce
from $467/472 an ounce.
Precious metals prices at 0357 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 972.80 -0.20 -0.02 16.82
Spot Silver 19.63 -0.03 -0.15 32.90
Spot Platinum 2027.00 47.00 +2.37 33.36
Spot Palladium 469.00 2.00 +0.43 27.45
TOCOM Gold 3204.00 -40.00 -1.23 4.71
34308
TOCOM Platinum 6510.00 -197.00 -2.94 21.93
21867
TOCOM Silver 647.30 -27.50 -4.08 19.65
2354
TOCOM Palladium 1612.00 -100.00 -5.84 19.32
5429
Euro/Dollar 1.5364
Dollar/Yen 101.63
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo in Tokyo; Editing by
Ben Tan)
