Car sales, employment numbers send platinum lower

Precious metals prices were lower Thursday as demand concerns were raised by new unemployment data from the United States.

Platinum declined on the bad jobs news from the US Labor Department, which said that the US lost 467,000 jobs in June, 104,000 more than had been expected.

The numbers indicated that the recession remains entrenched in the US and raised fears that demand will not recover as quickly as had been hoped.

Demand worries also stemmed from recent data from carmakers that while some saw better sales than forecast in June, others saw bigger declines in sales than had been predicted.

October platinum  was down $11.80 to $1,193.30 per troy ounce in New York while earlier, in mid-morning trade, September palladium which, like platinum, is used in the manufacture of pollution control devices for motor vehicles, fell $4.35 to $250.50 per troy ounce.

August gold, meanwhile, was $10.80 lower to $930.50 per troy ounce and September silver dropped 35 cents to $13.41 per troy ounce.