Past week was good for base, precious metals
Gold benefited from a weaker US dollar, with investors looking to hedge against currency debasement and inflation. The other precious metals also benefited from the rally and were sitting in the green on 9 October. The larger base metals sector performed positively too, and fringed higher throughout the past week.
After a short-lived dip to US$1876 per ounce, gold experienced a second consecutive week of gains, ending $1,930.48 / oz yesterday. Being able to climb past the US$1,920 resistance level, gold confirmed its recent uptrend over the past fortnight and assure its grip on the US$1,900 handle for the near future, provided dollar stays weaker.
Silver also clambered higher the past week, opening the period at US$23.95 per ounce and moving as high as US$24.75 on Friday. Valued at US$18.02/oz in January, it added as much as 37 percent to that price since, keeping pace with its sister yellow metal and outperforming gold by about 6 percentage points. As usual, it is more volatile than gold. Silver was priced at US$24.70/oz on Friday.
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Platinum made a modest uptick mid-week, but was subsequently pushed lower later on. Despite starting the period at US$881 per ounce, the metal edged as high as US$893 before shedding those gains. On Friday, platinum was trading positively at $892.19 / oz.
Palladium registered the largest gain this week, climbing from US$2,250 per ounce on Monday to a six month high of $2,443.49 / oz on Friday. The high percentage uptick marks one of the metal’s best weekly performances since January. Since the beginning of the year, palladium has risen more than 18 percent, but is still well off its year-to-date high of US$2,614, seen in February.
BASE METALS
In the base metals stable, nickel has been making the most significant gains. Valued at US$14,360 per tonne on Monday, the silverish metal added 2.2 percent to its value to sit at US$14,687 by Friday afternoon. The price increase was credited to the return of Chinese manufacturing following a week-long national holiday.
Copper surged higher mid-week, going from US$6,509 per tonne on Tuesday (6 October) to US$6,611.50 by Thursday (8 October). The red metal remains well above its year-to-date low of US$4,617.50, seen on 23 March. Copper was valued at US$6,611.50/t on Friday.
