Tokyo platinum up slightly but off eight-month high

Tokyo platinum futures closed higher on Thursday but backed away from an eight-month peak after short-squeezing ran out of steam as the benchmark contract approached a key technical resistance level. The April platinum contract on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange closed up three yen, or 0.1 percent, at 2,953 yen per gram after rising to 2,980 yen, the highest since October. The contract has gained about 3 percent since the start of the week.
Platinum has gathered momentum since the April contract closed above 2,900 yen on Monday, which prompted active short-squeezing, but follow-through buying faded after the benchmark approached key technical resistance at 3,000 yen.
"Sentiment looks strong but it started to lose energy after approaching the 3,000-yen level," said Hisaaki Tasaki, market analyst at Ace Koeki. "The market is watching to see if the 3,000 yen level can be broken in the near term but it would need a convincing buying factor," Task said.
Speculative buying faded in the afternoon as the yen's recovery against the dollar-induced profit taking.
A stronger yen lowers the value of yen-based commodity prices, including platinum. The yen was trading at 108.30/33 against the dollar, up from the New York close of around 108.76.
During the US session it hit a two-month low of 108.87. Fund operators interested in shifting out of the sluggish gold market and into other precious metals also supported platinum, traders said.
"We are seeing moves by funds to buy silver and platinum as gold has been moving in a very tight range recently," said Koji Suzuki, manager at Star Futures Securities.
The benchmark April TOCOM silver contract closed up 2.7 yen, or 1.08 percent, at 253.0 yen per 10 grams. TOCOM gold edged down across the board, but found some support as the dollar-based spot price recovered slightly.
The benchmark April gold contract closed down three yen, or 0.21 percent, at 1,457 yen per gram. It had moved in a range of 1,455 to 1,460 yen.
Since last on Thursday, the key gold contract has moved in a tight band of 1,455 to 1,461 yen. Spot bullion was quoted at $416.90/$417.60 an ounce against $415.65/$416.15 in New York.
Below are closing prices for TOCOM's most active precious metals contracts, with the day's turnover for each metal.