SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold and platinum futures prices again reached parity on Tuesday, as gold continued its record run as one of the few defensive assets left standing. Platinum typically trades at a premium to the yellow metal. Platinum for October delivery /quotes/zigman/2304883 PL1V -0.07% gained $26.30, or 1.5%, to $1,748.90 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. It traded as high as $,1751.20 an ounce. December gold /quotes/zigman/661658 GC1Z +1.80% added $10.90, or 0.7%, to $1,724.40 an ounce. Platinum, more expensive to mine than gold, has benefitted lately from nervousness around ongoing talks between a miners union and three of the largest platinum mining companies in South Africa, source of most of the world’s platinum. Despite being technically being a precious metal, most demand for platinum comes from industrial uses, mainly auto catalytic converters. The metals reached parity on Monday and, before that, in December 2008.
By Claudia Assis-Marketwatch August 9, 2011