By Glenys Sim
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum declined in Asia as a deepening economic slowdown reduced sales by automakers, which account for nearly two-thirds of consumption. Gold also fell.
U.S. November sales declined 41 percent at General Motors Corp. and 31 percent at Ford Motor Co. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. posted drops of 34 percent and 32 percent respectively. GM has said it may run out of cash by year-end as the recession saps demand.
“The demand simply isn’t there,” Tetsuya Yoshii, vice president for derivative products at Mizuho Corporate Bank Ltd., said by phone from Tokyo. “People aren’t using platinum with auto production and sales are coming down.”
Platinum for immediate delivery fell as much as 1.6 percent to $793 an ounce, before trading at $803.50 an ounce at 10:15 a.m. Singapore time.
The metal for January delivery was little changed at $809.40 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. October-delivery platinum on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange rose 0.6 percent to 2,389 yen a gram ($796 an ounce) at the 11 a.m. local time break.
“Speculative money isn’t flowing in as investors took money off the table at the end of last month, and it’s unlikely there will be big inflows now we’re at the end of the year,” said Mizuho’s Yoshii.
U.S. auto sales have dropped for 13 straight months compared with year-earlier results, the longest slide in 17 years. The U.S. is the world’s biggest market for cars and light trucks, which are included in the figures.
Vehicle Sales
Growth of cars sales in China, which have surged fivefold over the past eight years, slipped to 9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in five years. European and Japan vehicle sales also slumped.
Immediate-delivery gold dropped 0.6 percent to $777.33 an ounce at 10:23 a.m. in Singapore, after rising as much as 2.3 percent yesterday, the most in more than a week. Gold for February delivery in New York fell 0.7 percent to $777.60 an ounce.
“Gold will continue to trade in the $700 to $850 range for the rest of the year as investors seek a safe haven, while continuing to be driven by the euro-dollar relationship,” Mizuho’s Yoshii said. The euro bought $1.2704 from $1.2714 late yesterday in New York.
Gold for October delivery added 1.8 percent to 2,321 yen a gram in Tokyo at the trading break, and Shanghai gold for June delivery gained 0.3 percent to 169.30 yuan a gram ($765 an ounce).
“No one really wants to buy equities so there isn’t much choice at the moment if you want to stay invested,” said Yoshii.
Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, silver lost 1.2 percent to $9.47 an ounce, and palladium was up 0.3 percent at $173.50 an ounce.
To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net
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