Platinum price reaches record high
February 14, 2008
London—Platinum's price reached a record high for the second day in
London, trading above $2,000 an ounce, reports
Bloomberg News.
Platinum for immediate delivery in London gained as much as $50, or 2.5 percent, to $2,027.50 an ounce, according to the news source.
The escalated price is due to power cuts in South Africa, which accounts for almost 80 percent of global platinum output.
The world's second-largest platinum producer, Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., forecasted a drop in its platinum output due to the power shortages, which could be as much as 40,000 ounces of production, roughly equal to more than two days of global supply.
South Africa's state-run utility Eskom Holdings Ltd. told
Bloomberg News it will retain limits on power supply to users such as mines and smelters to 90 percent of normal needs until 2012.
In related news, gold for immediate delivery in London increased 0.2 percent to $908.68 an ounce, according to the news source. The metal's price reached a record high on Feb. 1 at $936.92.
Meanwhile, silver lost 6 cents, or 0.4 percent, dropping to $17.24 an ounce.
Editor's note: For the latest precious-metal prices, see our
Wholesale Material Pricing Tools.
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