The Platinum and Palladium Exchange traded Funds are about to launch and US investors will be able to have easier access to when has been a rather expensive investment.

NYSE Euronext stated recently that ETFS Physical Platinum Shares PPLT and ETFS Physical Palladium Shares PALL will begin trading on the NYSE Arca platform. The funds are wholly owned by London-based ETF Securities Ltd.

“Everybody tends to rush into gold when they think of precious metals. Platinum group metals have the added benefit of a high level of industrial input,” said Bill O’Neill, partner at New Jersey-based LOGIC Advisors.

Platinum has tended to outperform gold and silver since December last year (2009) since the new broke of the impending Platinum and Palladium eft launch. In that period platinum rose 7 percent and palladium arose a massive 17 percent as compared with a gold decline of around 4 percent.
Over 60 percent of platinum use is in the auto industry where it is used to clean car exhaust fumes. “With the growth of car usage in India and China, demand for platinum group metals should be quite buoyant. It’s going to be a metal that attracts a lot more attention in the future,” O’Neill commented
Some Traders expect the funds, which will issue securities backed by physical stocks of the precious metals, could attract significant inflows of platinum and palladium on their launch.

PGM exchange-traded products currently listed in London and Zurich have attracted a significant amount of the metals. ETF Securities’ platinum and palladium funds currently hold more than a million ounces on a combined basis, and the Zurich Cantonal bank also holds nearly 0.8 million ounces according to Reuters.

“For the next two or three weeks at least following the launch, this should be quite bullish for prices of both metals,” said Tom Kendall, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp.

“I have no doubt that platinum and palladium physically backed ETFs in the United States will be a success. The question is timing — how quickly they see money going in — and how much switching there is out of NYMEX positions into ETF holdings.” He went on.
Platinum group metal traded virtually unchanged on Thursday, as the news if the up and coming Platinum and Palladium EFT was already know around the markets.

U.S. April platinum PLJ0 futures ended up $1 at $1,559.40 an ounce, while the March palladium contract PAH0 closed down $2.65 at $424.55 an ounce.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 9:14 am and is filed under Palladium News.