Access to Russia’s Palladium output is worrying some investors as sanctions from the West were increased over the conflict in Ukraine last week. Russia produces 40% of the world’s supply of palladium and concerns about potential disruptions of that flow by further trading curbs pushed palladium higher this week.
In other precious metals news, a lawsuit was filed in the US against Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N. (NYSE:DB), HSBC Holdings (NYSE:HSBC) and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE:BNS), the three banks that, until recently, had run the daily London Silver fix. The lawsuit alleges the three colluded to manipulate prices since 2007 and the petitioner is asking the court to grant the lawsuit class action status. The fix, itself, is going away August 15, to be replaced by an electronic platform.
The week’s biggest mover on the weekly Global Precious Metals MMI® was the price of Japanese silver, which saw a 2.2 percent decline to JPY 664.00 ($6.53) per 10 grams. This week marked the third in a row of declining prices for the metal. Indian silver fell 1.5 percent over the past week to INR 45,214 ($752.88) per kilogram. After a 0.7 percent decline, US silver closed out the week at $20.75 per ounce. The price of Chinese silver declined 0.5 percent over the past week, settling at CNY 4,315 ($696.77) per kilogram.
Japanese Gold bullion fell 0.9 percent over the past week to JPY 4,235 ($41.62) per gram. After a 0.7 percent decline, Chinese gold bullion closed out the week at CNY 259.69 ($41.93) per gram. The price of Indian gold bullion rose 0.2 percent to INR 28,040 ($466.91) per 10 grams after falling 0.8 percent during the previous week. The price of US gold bullion fell 0.2 percent to $1,308 per ounce after rising 0.3 percent the week before.
Japanese Platinum bar prices were off slightly at JPY 4,807 ($47.24) per gram, down from JPY 4,872 ($48.07) a week ago. The price of Chinese platinum bar declined 1.0 percent over the past week, settling at CNY 312.00 ($50.38) per gram. The price of US platinum bar dropped 0.7 percent this week, closing out the third consecutive week of falling prices at $1,474 per ounce.
Chinese Palladium bar saw a 0.5 percent decline over the past week to CNY 193.00 ($31.17) per gram. Following a 1.3 percent increase in the week prior, the price of US palladium bar fell 0.1 percent last week to $877.00 per ounce. At JPY 2,875 ($28.25) per gram, the week finished with no movement for Japanese palladium bar.