Federal Reserve statements that interest rates would not be rising anytime soon created a strong week for Gold and, particularly, Silver as investors snapped up the speculative metals as a hedge against a still-weak dollar.
Meanwhile, the South African Platinum Miners’ strike finally ended with Lonmin, Impala and Anglo-American Platinum finally coming to an agreement with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union after five months of suspended platinum and palladium production.
The week’s biggest mover on the weekly Global Precious Metals MMI®, Indian silver jumped 10.5 percent to close at INR 45,648 ($758.46) per kilogram. With a 6.1 percent climb, US silver claimed the week’s largest gain, settling at $20.88 per ounce. Chinese silver prices climbed to CNY 4,325 ($694.88) per kilogram, up from CNY 4,110 ($661.65) a week ago. One of the big movers this week was Japanese silver, which shot up 4.3 percent to reach JPY 657.00 ($6.44) per 10 grams.
Indian gold bullion closed last week at INR 27,875 ($463.16) per 10 grams, after a 5.7 percent rise in price. A 3.7 percent jump caught the week’s heaviest change for Japanese gold bullion. Finishing at CNY 262.99 ($42.25) per gram for the week, Chinese gold bullion climbed 3.5 percent increase. Over the past week, US gold bullion rose 3.0 percent to $1,315 per ounce.
The price of US Platinum bar rose 1.1 percent to $1,451 per ounce after falling 0.4 percent during the previous week. Following a 1.2 percent increase in the week prior, the price of Japanese platinum bar fell 1.0 percent last week to JPY 4,799 ($47.01) per gram. The price of Chinese platinum bar fell 0.3 percent over the past week to CNY 308.00 ($49.48) per gram. This was the fourth week in a row of declining prices.
Japanese palladium bar saw a 2.1 percent decline over the past week to JPY 2,700 ($26.45) per gram. The price of US palladium bar rose 1.1 percent to $819.00 per ounce after falling 3.5 percent during the previous week. The price of Chinese palladium bar fell 1.1 percent over the past week to CNY 184.00 ($29.56) per gram. This was the fourth week in a row of declining prices.
The Global Precious Metals MMI® collects and weights 14 global precious metal price points to provide a unique view into precious metal price trends. For more information on the Global Precious Metals MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.