Platinum prices eased in Asia trading on Tuesday after sprint when buyers took advantage of thin post-holiday activity, leaving the spot contract softer ahead of trading in Europe.
Gold also recoiled after gains, but was holding about $1 an ounce up on late New York quotes.
Platinum may have peaked after racing higher in New York, while gold appeared undervalued, dealers said.
Spot platinum fetched $931.00/$936.00 an ounce versus $937 in late New York trading and $900 late last week. Platinum peaked at $942 an ounce shortly after the start of trading in Japan.
"We saw some profit taking and that sent the price back down," a metals dealer said.
The spot contract initially followed futures higher as Nymex platinum futures rose almost four-percent overnight, hitting a fresh 24-year high of $938 an ounce, with little resistance as London physical markets remained closed for the Easter holidays.
Precious metals trading resumed in Sydney and Hong Kong on Tuesday and was scheduled to restart later in London.
"With more markets back, those levels may be hard to maintain," another dealer said.
Platinum's rally comes about a week after sister metal palladium rose to a 19-month high as speculators bet that the metal would replace platinum in some auto catalytic converters.
Belgian metals group Umicore SA has said it has developed technology that allowed less costly palladium to be used instead of platinum in diesel emission control systems.
Platinum and to a lesser extent palladium, are used in catalytic converters to clean exhaust fumes.
Platinum was initially knocked by the Umicore news, though conventional technology still relies on platinum to capture maximum levels of pollutants when engines are started.
Spot gold was trading at $420.25/$421.00 an ounce versus $419.50/420.00 last quoted in New York and the last London fix of $419.50 on Thursday.
Dealers said sentiment is growing that gold may be undervalued after its lacklustre performance in New York compared with platinum.
In Tokyo gold futures, the benchmark February 2005 gold contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) was 18 yen lower at 1,422 yen.
Spot palladium was flat at $332/337 an ounce.
Spot silver was down two cents at $7.98/8.00 an ounce.
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