Wednesday February 20, 2008

Platinum price breaks through $2000 for the first time

afp.google.com :

The price of platinum soared on Thursday [14 Feb 2008] past 2,000 dollars an ounce to a record as power shortages affected mining production in South Africa, the biggest supplier of the white precious metal. On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum struck a record 2,027.50 dollars per ounce. South African energy group Eskom has said that its power supply would be kept at only 90% of full capacity until 2012.

Large parts of South Africa have intermittently been plunged into darkness since late last year as Eskom imposes planned blackouts to conserve dwindling electricity supplies. Gold production has also been hit in South Africa with power to mines not always guaranteed. Platinum, used in the production of expensive jewellery and catalytic converters in vehicles, has seen its price jump by more than 10%, while it has almost doubled in one year.

- At the close, the platinum:gold price ratio has widened from 2.17 just a week ago to 2.31. Looks like the momentum crowd is really piling into platinum.

See also :

1. Platinum hits record $1972.75 on South African power outages
2. Gold soars above US$920 as power crisis closes South African mines ($1652 on 25 Jan 2008)
3. Gold, oil rise after Bhutto assassination, platinum hits record ($1542 on 27 Dec 2007)
4. Platinum price hits a record high ($1505 on 18 Dec 2007)

(2008-02-20 12:45:08 SGT) [Biz] Permalink

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