Platinum rose around 2.5% on Wednesday for its biggest one-day rally in a month, boosted by supply fears after sprawling labor unrest halted production at some mines in top platinum producer South Africa.
Gold was up by pennies, retreating after setting a six-month high during the session, as some investors took profits ahead of a U.S. Federal Reserve policy statement on Thursday.
Machete-wielding strikers forced top world platinum producer Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J) to shut down some South African operations, widening the labor unrest sweeping through the country's mining industry.
Platinum, mostly used as an autocatalyst to clean tailpipe emissions, has soared 11% in the last eight session. The metal's relative strength index (RSI) rose above 80 on Wednesday to its most overbought level since early 2008.
"Platinum's rally is very strike-specific at this point, and it may pull back when the supply worries are over as platinum is now getting significantly overdone," said Frank McGhee, head precious metals trader Integrated Brokerage Services LLC. . .View Full Article