Gold settles after recent market high

Gold settled to $432.10/$432.90 per troy ounce in late trade in London after having risen to a 4-week high of $433 per troy ounce earlier in the day on the announcement that the National Union of Mineworkers in South Africa will begin a strike on Sunday after talks on pay between union and management groups broke down. Prices did not rise further because gold is currently in plentiful supply.

Platinum rose to $909 per troy ounce on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange but then declined to $900/$905 per troy ounce by the end of trade in London. Prices are going up due to worries about a disruption of supplies after talks between unions and management at the world’s largest platinum mine reached a deadlock last week.

Three-month copper hit another record high at $3,582.5 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange as inventories in LME warehouses are still close to 31-year lows. The low stockpiles are also evident in spot copper prices, which are currently trading above $3,800 per tonne.

Prices for 3-month aluminium reached their highest level since the end of April during the day at $1,889 per tonne.