Platinum Rallies, Silver Falls

Ivaylo
19 Apr, 2007
New York City

Platinum futures surged Wednesday, fueled by fund buying, expectation of an exchange-traded fund, and a weaker U.S. dollar. Much of the increase was connected to buying ahead of the launch of an exchange-traded fund set for May 10 by Zurich Cantonal Bank. Other precious metals also rose, such as gold and palladium, while silver dipped. In base metals trading, copper fell, while in energy trading crude oil futures ended little changed.

[R]5:00AM Platinum advances sharply Wednesday, gold and palladium edge higher.[/R]
July platinum rallied $26 to settle at $1,306.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. June gold gained 80 cents to close at $693.30 an ounce, while May silver shed 4.5 cents to $13.975 an ounce, and June palladium advanced $2.45 to $382.80 an ounce. May copper declined 5.8 cents on profit-taking to settle at $3.6190 per pound. July copper slipped 5.55 cents to finish at $3.6235 a pound.

In energy trading on the Nymex, crude oil futures finished little changed near $63 a barrel as a government report showing U.S. oil refineries are accelerating gasoline production. The front-month May light, sweet crude oil contract ended 3 cents higher at $63.13 a barrel. Front-month May gasoline gained 2.75 cents, or 1.3%, to finish at $2.0833 a gallon, while May heating oil rose 0.88 cents, or 0.5%, to finish at $1.8066 a gallon. Natural gas for May delivery finished 7.9 cents higher at $7.497 a million British thermal units.

May Arabica coffee futures dipped 0.25 cents on profit-taking and closed at $1.0935 a pound. July coffee finished 0.15 cents weaker at $1.1210 a pound. Most-active July cocoa slid $33 on speculative profit-taking and origin selling to end at $1,956 a metric ton. May soybeans finished 8.5 cents lower at $7.1550 per bushel. May corn advanced 10.25 cents to close at $3.6350 per bushel, July corn rose 10 cents to $3.7525 a bushel.