Platinum Group Metals Price Bulletin - 23rd January 2012 to 27th January 2012

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

	Pt	Pd	Rh
Monday 23rd January	1528	680	1375
Tuesday 24th January	1564	689	1400
Wednesday 25th January	1554	682	1400
Thursday 26th January	1586	696	1400
Friday 27th January	1606	691	1425

On the macroeconomic front, the US Federal Reserve this week announced that it does not expect to raise interest rates until late 2014. This took analysts somewhat by surprise and sent the dollar sharply lower. The pgms made gains on the back of this, together with supply concerns in South Africa, with palladium testing the $700 level and platinum exceeding $1,600 for the first time since mid-November.

Platinum

In South Africa, Impala Platinum reported that 5,000 workers at its Rustenburg operations had downed tools the previous Friday in a dispute over wages. A court order this week declared the strike illegal as disruption continued. Meanwhile, in Zimbabwe Impala announced that workers at its Zimplats unit had returned to work after going on strike last week. This uncertainty on the supply side, together with a weaker dollar, saw platinum reach a ten-week high of $1,606.

Palladium

Palladium largely tracked platinum, gaining upward momentum from the weaker dollar, reaching a four-month high of just under $700.  

Rhodium

Good buying interest from industrial customers helped the rhodium price to gain $50 this week to reach a new JM Base Price of $1,425, the highest since mid-December.

Johnson Matthey,
Orchard Road,
Royston,
Hertfordshire SG8 5HE,
United Kingdom