Metals Weekly Round-Up: Platinum Price Rallies to Six-year High

The price of gold climbed to a four-week high this week, before pressure from the US dollar pushed the yellow metal lower.

The greenback rebounded late in the week, which drew down the recent uptick the precious metals sector has been experiencing. Despite the late week price shed, platinum was able to register a fresh six-year high when values reached US$1,262 per ounce on Thursday (February 11).

The base metals also spent the second week of February steadily gaining, with nickel adding more than US$500 to its value by Friday (February 12).

Heightened investor interest continued to aide gold in its climb to US$2,000 per ounce. The metal started the session trading at US$1,829 and peaked for the five-day period at US$1,851 just after markets opened Thursday.

Prices trended lower throughout the day as the US dollar rallied, by the end of the trading day the yellow metal was holding at US$1,824.70.

“The inverse relationship between gold and the dollar has been strong recently and the rebound in the dollar has had a negative impact,” David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK told Reuters.

At 12:02 p.m. EST the price of gold was US$1,825.03.

Silver prices also edged to a four-week high when values reached US$27.66 per ounce on Tuesday (February 9). The white metal slid back in the day following but remains above US$27.

The silver market is anticipated to perform well throughout 2021, according to the recently released silver outlook drafted by the Silver Institute.

“Going forward, the outlook for the silver price in 2021 remains exceptionally encouraging,  with the annual average price projected to rise by 46 percent to a seven-year high of US$30. Given silver’s smaller market and the increased price volatility this can generate, we expect silver to comfortably outperform gold this year,” reads the report.

Silver was priced at US$27.31 at 12:08 p.m. EST.

Growth in industrial demand drove platinum prices higher this week, as the metal peaked at US$1,262. Since January the autocatalyst metal has added 18.9 percent to its value. Reaching a six-year high on Thursday, prices subsequently fell back but remain range bound above US$1,200.

Palladium also added to its price this session. Similar fundamentals drive the palladium market and worked as a tailwind for prices which also marked a four-week price high.

The ascent exhibited some volatility early in the week; however the platinum group metal was able to claw back mid-week loses to end the week in the green.

At 12:15 p.m. EST platinum was selling for US$1,242 while palladium was moving for US$2,305 per ounce.

Broadly the base metals performed well, with nickel and copper making the most significant gains.

“The metals continue to look strong but key will be whether they can hold on to the gains, or build on them, with China on holiday,” a Fastmarkets note from Friday read.

“One issue that is of growing concern, and another potential headwind for metals demand, is the shortage of semiconductors, which is already causing some auto manufacturers to slow production. And that could cause a pushback up the supply chain.”

Copper started the week at US$8,007 per tonne. By Friday the red metal had moved 3.5 percent higher. Since January copper’s value has increased 4.2 percent.

To end the week, copper was selling for US$8,292.

After slipping to a year-to-date low of US$2,539 per tonne to start the month, zinc prices have rallied 7.3 percent. Zinc was priced at US$2,726 on Friday morning.

The sector’s top gainer for the second week of the month was nickel, which added 2.9 percent to its price. The metal is performing positively amid news that the electric vehicle sector will require more of the metal for production.

Nickel was valued at US$18,599 per tonne Friday.

Lead was also able to pull out a modest gain this week, starting the session at US$2,052 per tonne and rising to US$2,082.50. Prices held at that level to end the period.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.