NEW YORK: Platinum raced to a six-year peak while palladium jumped over 3% on Wednesday on hopes of a fillip to demand from the automobile sector as the economy recovers, with supply likely to remain strained.

Platinum climbed 5.3% to $1,237.45 per ounce by 1:41 p.m. EST (1841 GMT), having earlier hit its highest since February 2015 at $1,250.00.

“We’re expecting demand for autos to increase globally as we move into a recovery phase,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities, adding higher standards for pollution control will require more of the metal.

Palladium rose as much as 3.1%, and was last up 1.4% at $2,351.59.

Spot gold meanwhile, rose 0.3% to $1,842.66. US gold futures settled up 0.3% at $1,842.70.

Silver, however, eased 0.6% to $27.05 an ounce.