Nearly all prices within the entire precious metals complex fell for our April index reading – except for Palladium prices, which rose in the US, China and Japan.
While we recently examined the price trends of gold through the prism of nations’ central banks buying and selling the stuff, with palladium, the macroeconomic trend story seems to be Russian sanctions. According to our friends at ETF Securities, ”the advent of a new palladium ETF in South Africa lifted demand expectations pushing palladium price to its the highest level since 2011.
Additionally, “any restrictions on Russian palladium exports would exacerbate what is already expected to be a large palladium deficit in 2014.”
As far as our most recent palladium price outlook for 2014 goes…
Our lead forecasting analyst, Raul de Frutos, sees it this way: “Prices going above $800 per ounce might be a good time to start taking positions. Until that happens, we would advise buyers not to panic because prices could actually bounce down as they meet resistance levels.”
Key Price Drivers of the Precious Metals Index
The monthly Global Precious Metals MMI® registered a value of 94 in April, a decrease of 2.1 percent from 96 in March.
After rising the previous month, Indian silver prices dropped 11.2 percent. US Silver prices fell 8.5 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, Japanese silver prices dropped 6.6 percent.
Indian gold bullion prices fell 6.1 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, US Gold bullion prices dropped 5.0 percent. Chinese silver prices fell 3.8 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, Chinese gold bullion prices dropped 3.6 percent.
Japanese platinum bar prices fell 2.7 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, US Platinum bar prices dropped 2.4 percent. Japanese gold bullion prices fell 2.2 percent after rising the previous month. After rising the previous month, Chinese platinum bar prices dropped 1.3 percent.
Chinese palladium bar finished the month up 4.8 percent. The price of US palladium bar jumped 4.6 percent last month. Following a 3.9 percent change in price, Japanese palladium bar closed the month up as well.
The Global Precious Metals MMI® collects and weights 14 global precious metal price points to provide a unique view into precious metal price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the Global Precious Metals MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.