Palladium Continues to Rise as Concerns About Supply Grow, And Gold is Falling

Palladium extended its rally for the third consecutive session on Wednesday after sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine exacerbated supply concerns, while gold fell as US bond yields and the dollar rose.

Palladium rose one percent, recording $2,604.61, after rising on Tuesday to its highest level since July, recording $2,722.79. Car manufacturers use palladium in converters to curb harmful emissions.

Western countries have stepped up sanctions against Russia, which produces about 40 percent of the world’s palladium, and these sanctions included the exclusion of some Russian banks from the global payments system Swift.

The sanctions will affect palladium supplies to the global market, said Peter Fertig, an advisor at Quantitative Commodity Research, adding that prices had not yet peaked.

The US dollar index reached its highest level since May 2020, which led to a slight decline in gold as it made the yellow metal more expensive for buyers abroad.

The US 10-year bond yields also rose, prompting some investors to refrain from holding non-yielding gold.

Spot gold fell 1% to $1924.00 an ounce, and US gold futures fell 0.4 percent to $1,935.60 an ounce.

As for other metals, silver fell in spot transactions 1.6 percent to $ 24.97 an ounce, while platinum rose 0.9 percent to $ 1062.74 an ounce.