Accident damage to S.A. smelter sends platinum higher

The price of platinum continued to skyrocket on Friday after a South African miner reported that one of its smelters had sustained damage in an accident and will take up to six weeks to repair.

Also sending prices higher was a projection that supplies could fall as far as 400,000 ounces behind demand this year after being at deficit of 265,000 ounces last year, along with a prediction that the price of platinum could reach $3,000 per troy ounce by the end of the year.

After going as high as $2,075 per troy ounce in overnight trade, April platinum added $57.80 over Thursday’s close to trade at $2,063.70 per troy ounce in New York.

On the other hand, both gold and silver declined on the session with April gold down $4.70 to $906.10 per troy ounce and March silver trading at $17.51 per troy ounce, a decline of 14 cents on the session.

May copper added 4 cents to $3.54 per pound in New York as London Metal Exchange inventories fell by 4,000 tonnes during the session for a total decline of 16,100 tonnes this week.

In London, 3-month copper added $60 to $7,740 per tonne, or $3.51 per pound.