John Barendrecht Friday, Jun 13, 1997 4:52 PM
Respond to of 79861
NY precious metals end down, except palladium
NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuter) - NYMEX palladium ended higher again Friday as the physical platinum group metals market continued to suffer an acute shortage of metal, but COMEX gold and silver ended lower, with the latest U.S. economic data showing inflation remains no threat to investors.
``I like the PGM group and it may be time to get long again on any further dips, depending on news on Russian exports,'' said Scott Meyers, an analyst with Pioneer Futures here.
NYMEX September palladium ended up $4.15 at $188.40 an ounce after setting a new contract high of $192.00.
In the physical market, spot palladium continued to trade just above $200, below the 17-year high of $230 set last week.
NYMEX July platinum ended down $6.80 at $426.30, with October platinum $3.80 lower at $406.30, as funds continued to roll out of the July contract ahead of the delivery period starting July 1.
Spot platinum prices are up about 50 pct this year and palladium prices have doubled, due to the suspension of Russian exports for five months. Russia supplies about 20 pct of the world's platinum and 60 pct of its palladium.
Russian PGM exports are expected to resume in late June.
But reports Friday indicated the officially secret Russian export quota for platinum in 1997 would be about 700,00 ounces (22 tonnes), down from the 1.2 million ounces exported in 1996, according to an estimate by refiners Johnson Matthey last month.
The Russian export quota for palladium this year is to be 3.2 million ounces (100 tonnes), newswire reports said. Johnson Matthey estimated Russia exported 4.6 million ounces last year.
``The bottom line is world inventories have been seriously run down without Russian exports and the vaults in Zurich are not going to be quickly refilled,'' one analyst said.
Meanwhile, one-month palladium lease rates rose back over 150 pct in the physical market Friday, while one year lease rates were quoted around 60 percent.
The acute shortage of PGMs in physical market has begun hit consumers like automotive catalytic converter manufacturers and dental supply companies.
Many manufacturers lowered inventories of physical metals in recent years, to raise cash, and leased their stockpiles back from dealers in return for buying through those dealers in the spot market as their needs arose, traders said.
But many of these leases are now being called in as dealers have to meet other commitments, traders said.
COMEX August gold ended off $0.50 at $343.10, up from a session low of $342.80.
In the bullion market, spot gold ended quoted at $340.80/$341.30 against the London afternoon fix of $341.40 and Thursday's New York finish of $341.30/80.
Earlier, an unexpected fall in U.S. May producer prices of 0.3 percent meant investors felt even less need to hold gold as an inflation hedge, analysts said.
COMEX July silver settled 0.3 cent weaker at $4.795 ahead of the expiry of July silver options at the close.
``Gold and silver can't get out of their own way and trading remains lackluster on low volumes, though the playtinum/gold spread has been profitable,'' Meyers said.
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