Palladium, billed as a lower-cost alternative to platinum, isn’t all that low-cost anymore.
The price of the platinum-group metal, which in recent years has increasingly been used in jewelry, hit $872.90 a troy ounce on July 8, its highest price since 2001, according to The Wall Street Journal. That marks the 13th trading session in a row it has risen. At press time, it was trading at $870.50, down slightly from its opening.
Its sister metal platinum is still significantly more expensive—trading at $1,499 an ounce at press time.
Analysts generally attributed the metal’s rise in price to fears about decreased supply in the wake of a strike by South African miners, as well as increased demand from automakers. South Africa produces a majority of the world’s supply of both palladium and platinum, the price of which has also risen in response to the strike.
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