BENGALURU: Palladium surged to a record high on Monday as a sustained supply deficit boosted the investment case for the autocatalyst metal, while gold rose to its strongest in more than two weeks on a lower dollar.

Spot palladium rose to a peak of $1,458 per ounce, its highest on record, and was up 1.5 per cent at $1,454 per ounce as of 1305 GMT.

Meanwhile, spot gold rose 0.3pc to $1,325.51 per ounce, having earlier hit its highest since the end of January at $1,326.07 as the dollar weakened on rising optimism for a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies.

US gold futures rose 0.5pc to $1,328.90 per ounce.

Investors will also be looking ahead to minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s January policy meeting on Wednesday for further clarity on interest rate hikes this year. Higher rates tend to weigh on non-yielding gold.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019