Platinum group metals rose on Tuesday as South Africa's longest and costliest miners' strike ground on, while gold edged up as gains in the dollar held it near key chart support. Platinum gained in intraday trade after refiner Johnson Matthey said it believed the deficit in the platinum market will expand to 1.218 million ounces this year, its largest shortfall in a data series going back to 1975.
Spot platinum was up 0.1 percent at $1,464.75 an ounce by 3:51 pm EDT (1951 GMT). Earlier, it hit a high of $1,476.30, not far from last week's peak of $1,483.50, its strongest since early March. US NYMEX platinum contract for July delivery settled down $1.30 at $1,468.90 an ounce, underperforming spot. Palladium rose 1.2 percent to $821.90 an ounce.
Gold, meanwhile, remained near $1,290 an ounce as the dollar index rose 0.1 percent and an industry report showed demand in major consumers China and India fell in the first quarter. Spot gold edged up 0.2 percent to $1,294.29 an ounce, while US gold futures for June delivery settled up 80 cents at $1,294.60 per ounce. Among other precious metals, spot silver edged up 0.2 percent at $19.36 an ounce.
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