Platinum gains as gold, silver prices decline

Most precious metals prices were lower on Thursday, but platinum saw gains on new worries about South African output.

July platinum added $24.20 to $2,061.50 per troy ounce in New York after going as high as $2,079.80 earlier in the session on renewed concerns that power shosrtages could disrupt output in South African mines.

June gold was down $5.30 near the end of floor trade in New York to $943 per troy ounce while May silver dropped 3 cents to $18.31 after the US dollar came back from record lows versus the euro.

July copper was down 4 cents in New York to $3.91 per pound while three-month copper in London dropped $106 to $8,614 per tonne, but not before New York prices rose to a record at $4.045 per pound and London prices hit a new high of $8,880 per tonne.

The records for copper came on worries about supply disruptions in Chile due to strikes there, while the subsequent declines were a result of new data showing that manufacturing activity in the Philadelphia region contracted more than had been expected in April.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve’s general economic index showed a reading of minus 24.9 in April, from minus 17.4 in March, spurring renewed concerns that demand for copper will decline.