(Bloomberg) — Platinum surged to its highest level since 2014 as supply concerns and a wave of speculative buying jolted the market.
The precious metal surged as much as 4.6%, while palladium was up more than 5% at one point. Gold edged higher as investors waited for clearer signs that Israel-Iran tensions won’t spill over again, and for more certainty on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate path.
“The recent surge in Chinese investment and jewelry replacement is shining a spotlight on platinum’s supply deficit,” said Justin Lin, an analyst at Global X ETFs. “Palladium and platinum are intrinsically linked as they can be substituted for one another for use in autocatalysts depending on relative prices, so we can expect some positive momentum in palladium off of platinum’s rally.”
The dominant platinum spot market in London and Zurich has shown signs of tightness for months, after approximately half a million ounces surged into US warehouses, spurred by a lucrative arbitrage and fear of tariffs.
Forward prices for platinum are now trading well below spot, a situation known as backwardation, which indicates tight market conditions. The implied cost of borrowing the metal is also still high, at an annualized rate of roughly 13% for a one-month lease, well above the usual rate of close to zero.
Platinum surged 3.4% to $1,400.75 an ounce as of 11:25 a.m. in London and palladium jumped 2.4% to $1,093.46. Gold rose 0.2% to $3,339.20 and silver added 1%. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.5%.
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