The South Africa produces three quarters of this metal

Typically industrial precious metal, Platinum is these days for gold. Its progress since the beginning of the year is the measurement of this ambition: 29, 1.212.326.7412 dollars an ounce for the New York contract to cash. While gold encounters some difficulties that translate into lower again to the $ 900 an ounce, almost fully reversing its gains since the beginning of the year, the leader of the platinum-group has a massive influx of speculative capital.

The net long positions in the US market "grew in significant proportions", indicate the experts at Standard Bank. They now represent 37 of the total of the positions open on the metal. Passed the 100,000 ounces of the low point of August to 367.000 ounces of last week.

The initial signal to purchase has not come to the Platinum futures contracts but once is not custom, and trackers. Easy to handle, these investment products have absorbed the first wave of the positions that have consented to the cash price to get rid of the psychological threshold of $ 1,200 an ounce in relying on the support of $ 1,150.

High production costs

The rumour of the launch of a new tracker on platinum in New York and Johannesburg helped revive interest in this valuable. Currently, no index funds on the Platinum is marked across the Atlantic. A failed attempt took place in 2007. But ETF Securities, which already handles the trackers on the Platinum and the largest palladium proposed by the London Stock Exchange, provided to the SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) the necessary documents for their rating in the United States. "The launch of ETF (trackers, Editor's note) in the United States could see demand for these two metals for purposes of investment grow even more," said analysts at Standard Bank. For memory, the American place focus alone more than 70 of the total of capital placed on the different trackers gold. If rejected by the SEC of the record of the ETF Securities, the price of Platinum could be back and return to the area of 1 100 - 1 150 dollars an ounce, concluded South African Bank.

Reduction potential is limited by hopes of a recovery in orders for new cars: 60 of the industrial application of Platinum is the manufacturers of systems of catalysis for cars. In March, sales of new vehicles jumped 40 on an annual basis in Germany and have registered with respective increases of 3 in France and 2 in China.

However, these signals do not have the strength of the trend by economists at CPM Group. They did not anticipate a sustainable growth of the global automotive market before the end of the year "at best". Final factor in strengthening of the courts of Platinum, the uplift of the parity of the South African rand. The South Africa produces three quarters of this metal. "Higher production costs contribute indirectly to stabilize the price of Platinum," said Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach, an economist at Heraeus, German group of high technology of precious metals. Its objective: 0.003 dollars an ounce.