Platinum adds nearly $50 per ounce on session

April platinum added $48.60 to $1,728.70 per troy ounce in New York after going as high as $1,733 per troy ounce earlier in the session as analysts predicted that production in South Africa would be subject to interruptions for at least the next two to four weeks.

February gold was up $16.40 to $927.10 per troy ounce as the dollar dropped to a two-week low versus the euro and analysts predicted that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, this time down to 3 percent, when it meets later in the week.

In other precious metals, March silver added 26 cents to $16.75 per troy ounce while March palladium which, like platinum, is used in the manufacture of pollution-control devices for motor vehicles, gained $5.90 to $391.35 per troy ounce.

Among base metals, March copper added 1 cent to $3.19 per pound in New York, while three-month copper in London was $30 cents higher than Friday’s close to $7,060 per tonne as London Metal Exchange stockpiles fell by another 1,100 tonnes during the day.