By Halia Pavliva
Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum and palladium futures fell in New York on concerns that demand for the metals used mostly in pollution-control devices in cars and trucks will decline as automobile sales plunge.
General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC yesterday forecast an auto-industry slump this year. Detroit-based GM, the world’s largest carmaker, said sales will drop as low as 9.5 million vehicles from 13.2 million last year and an average of 16.1 million during the previous decade. In 2008, platinum tumbled 38 percent and palladium plunged 50 percent.
“Uncertainty over the world’s auto industry may mean a decline in platinum price in the next few weeks,” Sergey Grudev, the head of the precious metals department at Standard Bank Russia in Moscow, said today in an e-mailed note.
Platinum futures for April delivery fell $21.40, or 2 percent, to $1,077.50 at 9:46 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. A close at that price would be the biggest decline since Jan. 21. Before today, the metal gained 17 percent this year. The price still is down 53 percent from a record $2,308.80 on March 4.
Palladium futures for March delivery fell $3.10, or 1.4 percent, to $216 an ounce. The metal reached $222 yesterday, the highest for a most-active contract since Nov. 17. Before today, the price was up 16 percent this year.
In Russia, the world’s biggest palladium producer, the RTS exchange plans to start trading platinum and palladium futures at the end of March, Sergei Danov, head of commodity derivatives business development, said by telephone today. He declined to give a specific date.
The start of trading in the contracts, denominated in dollars and settled in rubles, has been delayed. The exchange said in October it planned to begin Feb. 1. The RTS already trades gold and silver contracts.
To contact the reporter on this story: Halia Pavliva in New York at hpavliva@bloomberg.net.
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