Gold prices toy with $1300 an ounce: Barclays

UNITED STATES January 29 2015 2:45 PM

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): Gold prices have rallied to five-month highs toying with the $1300 an ounce level and retaining its premium over platinum for six consecutive sessions with it widening to $25 an ounce, said Barclays in a snippet.

Platinum prices have rallied to their highest since October last year while palladium has started to recover some of its lost ground. Indeed the latest trade data from China painted a more supportive picture for the PGMs after the weakest palladium shipments since October 2012 in November.

Palladium imports rose by 29% month-on-month but fell by 37% year-on-year to 44.8koz. Imports for the full year were up 6% y/y at 758koz. Platinum imports rose back above the 200koz and up 1% m/m but were down 45% y/y.

Full year imports were down 22% y/y at 2.5Moz. Trade data for Hong Kong is available through to November and coupled with China’s trade data show imports are down 14% y/y for the YTD.

On the supply side, Statistics South Africa reported its PGMs production was down 14% y/y in November as producers ramp up, while production for the full year is down 30% y/y.