Platinum prices rise above $2,000 per ounce in New York

The price of platinum rose above $2,000 per troy ounce in New York for the first time on Wednesday as worries continued about power shortages in South Africa, which could continue to hurt production for years.

April platinum was as high as $2.001.40 per troy ounce before easing back to $1,985 per troy ounce, a gain of $63.20 per troy ounce near the close of floor trade in New York, while platinum for immediate delivery traded at $1,974.50 per troy ounce in later afternoon trade in London.

Otherwise, precious metals prices were mixed with April gold falling $1.10 to $910 per troy ounce even as March silver added 10 cents to $17.35 per troy ounce in New York.

Among base metals, May copper dropped 3 cents to $3.54 per pound in New York while three-month copper in London fell $118 to $7,770 per tonne in London amid continuing concerns that economic conditions will dampen the demand for the metal used in construction.

Losses for copper were mitigated slightly by new data from the US Commerce Department which showed that retail sales grew by 0.3 percent in January, although the gains came mainly on purchases of automobiles and gasoline.