A gold bar on a scale is photographed at the German Federal Reserve Bank headquarters in Frankfurt.
LONDON: Gold prices regained their premium over platinum yesterday as the white metal surrendered some of the previous session’s hefty gains, which had taken it to three-month highs on rising supply concerns from major producer South Africa.
Platinum rallied for a sixth straight day on Tuesday after the world’s number one producer of the metal, Anglo American Platinum, announced that an operational overhaul would cost 14,000 jobs and an estimated 400,000 ounces of production.
It hit a high of $1,699.50 an ounce on Tuesday, but retraced some of that rise yesterday, while gold held its ground.
Spot gold was little changed at $1,676.04 an ounce at 1434 GMT against $1,678.50 late on Tuesday, while spot platinum was down 0.4 percent at $1,671.50 an ounce. The two metals hit parity for the first time since March on Tuesday.
Platinum was, however, still firmly underpinned by news that Amplats staff had downed tools on Wednesday, with the company saying workers were on illegal strike at three of its South African mines. Reuters
