Commodities : Friday, Aug. 8, 1986 : Platinum Futures Soar

Platinum futures prices rolled to life-of-contract highs for a second consecutive day at the New York Mercantile Exchange as a nervous market tried to anticipate South Africa’s response to the likelihood of increased sanctions.

In other markets, gold and silver lagged behind platinum’s swift run-up, Treasury bond futures finished strongly despite somewhat disappointing results in the final day of the Treasury’s refunding auction and livestock was higher, while meat futures ranged from mixed to limit up.

South Africa supplies the West with 80% of its platinum, a strategic metal that enjoys widespread use in the West for both industrial and military purposes. Analysts say increasingly strident calls for the United States and Great Britain to join Western Europe and approve further sanctions against South Africa has traders worried about retaliation.

“There are already concerns about availability,” said Bette Raptopoulos, senior metals analyst for Prudential-Bache Securities in New York. “There was strong buying overseas . . . before we opened up here.”

Gold and silver were slightly higher on the New York Commodity Exchange.