COMMODITIES : Platinum Futures Top $600 an Ounce
Platinum futures prices rocketed above $600 an ounce for the first time in nearly six months Wednesday on the New York Mercantile Exchange on buying linked to fears of dwindling supplies.
On other markets, gold and silver futures also rose; pork bellies were sharply higher while livestock futures were mixed; sugar futures were sharply lower, and energy, grains, soybeans and stock index futures all advanced.
Platinum for delivery in January soared the $25 daily limit to $609.40 an ounce during the trading session but settled at $608.70, up $24.30 from Tuesday and the highest daily settlement since June 6.
Other contracts finished $20.80 to $22.30 higher.
Platinum was trading at about $500 an ounce just two months ago. The scenario for the white metal turned bullish in early October when the large British platinum refiner Johnson Matthey PLC predicted production shortfalls through 1993.
Resistance Cracked
Wednesday’s rally took hold as speculators bid the price for January delivery up through several technical resistance points. Buying interest accelerated as the price approached $600, analysts said.
“The key thing was to take out resistance around $595--that’s where the market had been having trouble,” said Craig Sloane, metals analyst with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. “Once you did that, you were in a different ball game.”
Strong psychological resistance was cracked at the $600 mark, triggering a new round of buy orders, said Peter Cardillo, metals analyst with Josephthal & Co. in New York.
“Based on today’s close, we should attempt to reach the highs registered six months back, around the $625 to $630 area,” he said.
Silver futures posted sharp gains on platinum’s coattails. But the advance was more subdued in the inflation-sensitive gold market, which also responded to a Federal Reserve Board report that said the economy was growing at a slower pace than several other indicators have suggested.
Gold settled $2.10 to $2.90 higher, with December at $424.80 an ounce; silver was 9.6 cents to 10.6 cents higher, with December at $6.136 an ounce.
Pork Bellies, Hogs Higher
Prices of frozen pork belly futures surged on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on mostly technical buying inspired by the February contract’s rise above 43.50 cents a pound, last week’s high.
“That brought in a tremendous amount of buying and it just perpetuated itself,” said Paul Hare, a livestock market analyst with Linnco Futures Inc. in Chicago.
Hog futures rallied in sympathy with the pork bellies while cattle futures retreated, also on technically inspired selling, he said.
Live cattle settled unchanged to 0.78 cent lower, with December at 72.32 cents a pound; feeder cattle were 0.15 cent to 0.28 cent lower, with January at 82.42 cents a pound; hogs were 0.25 cent to 0.37 cent higher, with December at 39.82 cents a pound, and frozen pork bellies were 1.42 cents to 1.67 cents higher, with February at 44.52 cents a pound.
Sugar futures dipped amid profit taking following four straight days of higher prices on New York’s Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa Exchange.
Sugar settled 0.19 cent to 0.28 cent lower, with March at 11.07 cents a pound.
First-Notice Day
Grain and soybean futures prices finished mostly higher on the Chicago Board of Trade, with substantial gains in soybean and near-month corn futures partially linked to the peculiarities of first-notice day.
Wednesday was the first day on which traders could formally announce their intention to deliver wheat, corn, oats, soybean oil and soybean meal against the December contracts.
Rallies are typical of first-notice days, analysts said, with commercial players positioning themselves to take delivery.
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