Platinum Group Metals Price Bulletin - 2nd January 2012 to 6th January 2012

Johnson Matthey London Base Prices at 0800 hrs, $/oz:

 PtPdRh
Monday 2nd January         
Tuesday 3rd January   1415   660   1400
Wednesday 4th January   1436   666   1400
Thursday 5th January   1435   659   1400
Friday 6th January   1418   643   1375


The New Year began on a bullish note, with positive economic news including better than expected manufacturing data from Europe, expansion of China’s purchasing managers’ index, and higher US jobs data. Good news from the auto sector also added to the mix and helped platinum and palladium to make gains early in the week. The fresh optimism over the global economy was tempered later on as the euro weakened, in signs that the eurozone crisis is still far from over.


Platinum

Platinum re-gained the $1,400 level on the first trading day of the year, up 2% on the close of 2011, although at $1,415 the opening fix of 2012 was the lowest it has been since 2009. The appreciating gold price gave some support to platinum as did reports of a rise in German new car registrations of 6.1% in December. Overall, Germany’s new car market grew by 8.8% in 2011 according to the German Federal Motor Transport Authority. However, emphasising the continuing two-speed Europe, reports from Italy showed that new car sales there shrank by 15.3% in December. Despite positive news on the demand side, investor perception that 2012 will be a tough year, together with a stronger dollar, led platinum to give up most of its recent gains by Friday morning.


Palladium

Palladium also made gains in the opening fix of 2012, appreciating by almost 4% to fix at $660. An estimated 10% rise in US car and light truck sales in 2011, the fastest since the 1980s, with particularly strong growth in sales of larger vehicles helped give some momentum to the price. However, palladium also fell victim to negative sentiment by the end of the week.


Rhodium

Rhodium entered the New Year at $1,400, the same level it had traded at for the last two weeks of 2011. On the 6th it shed a further $25 to fix at $1,375. Iridium and ruthenium were unchanged at the levels they have held on to since mid-September 2011 and early December 2011 respectively.



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