Tokyo platinum futures set a two-week high on Thursday, with most of the contracts soaring by the daily price limit, as stop-loss buying emerged after the market cleared key resistance, brokers said.
Benchmark June 2005 platinum on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange (TOCOM) rose as high as 2,704 yen per gram, the highest since June 24. It closed up 70 yen at 2,696.
Contracts for delivery from October 2004 to April 2005 briefly jumped by the daily limit of 80 yen per gram.
"Short-position holders aggressively bought back the contracts as the benchmark contract broke through the key chart point of 2,672 yen," one broker said.
Technically, the benchmark contract is poised to fill the gap between 2,733 and 2,776 yen in the short-term, but further gains are questionable given slack physical demand during the summer, he added.
June platinum has gained 149 yen or 5.9 percent since it had hit the seven-month low of 2,547 yen in late June. But it is still 227 yen or 7.8 percent lower than the June peak of 2,923.
Spot platinum was quoted at $805.00/810.00 an ounce up sharply from Wednesday's New York close of $793/798.
Platinum jumped to as high as around $807 an ounce in early European trading, its highest level in nearly two weeks, led by TOCOM's short-covering rally. In the gold market, all the TOCOM contracts regained the psychologically important 1,400-yen mark on Thursday, following sharp gains in New York on the dollar's weakness.
Benchmark June gold settled up 16 yen per gram at 1,402, with other months gaining 15 to 16 yen.
The market needs to consolidate the current level before trying any further upside, another broker said. Spot gold = was quoted at $400.20/90 an ounce down from $402.00/2.75 in late New York.
Below are closing prices for TOCOM's most active precious metals contracts, with the day's turnover for each metal.
Closing prices are in yen per gram except for silver, which is in yen per 10 grams.