Saturday, January 1, 2011

Palladium doubles in price in 2010; platinum up

Palladium more than doubled in price in 2010 based on Friday morning's London fixing, driven by growing demand from auto markets in emerging economies, while platinum racked up a second consecutive year of gains.

Palladium, which is used predominantly in catalytic converters for gasoline-powered vehicles, fixed at $791.00 an ounce in the final fixing of the year, against $797.00 at the previous fixing on Thursday afternoon.

Based on the fixings, it rose by 101.27 percent this year, compared with an annual gain of 95 percent for the freely traded spot price . Platinum fixed at $1,731.00 an ounce versus $1,755.00 at the previous fixing. Based on the fixings, it rose for a second straight year, by 18.4 percent in 2010.

The freely traded spot price rose by 18.3 percent. Platinum, which relies most heavily on demand from the jewellery sector, has underperformed palladium this year largely due to its exposure to the flagging European car market, where it is used in greater quantities than palladium in diesel catalysts. - Reuters

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