LONDON, Feb 11: Platinum prices hit a record high for the eighth straight trading day on Monday on worries power problems in top producer South Africa would hit output badly.

Other precious metals also advanced, with gold rising 1 per cent to near its recent record of $936.50 an ounce, silver hitting a 27-year high and palladium rising to its highest level in more than six years.

Spot platinum hit a high of $1,915 an ounce and was quoted at $1,915/1,920 against $1,880/1,888 late in New York on Friday. U.S. platinum futures also surged to a historic high of $1,920.90 an ounce.

The situation is pretty serious. In the last three weeks, there has been significant production loss of the metal in South Africa, said Tom Kendall, precious metals strategist at Mitsubishi Corp.

Negotiations were underway for South African state-owned power utility Eskom to buy surplus electricity from local producers as part of its bid to solve the nation’s energy crisis, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said.

Anglo Platinum the world’s top platinum producer, said full-year earnings per share fell and it cut its 2008 production forecast mainly due to the power crisis.

Dealers said uncertainties in the dollar’s outlook amid the turmoil in credit markets had also encouraged investors to buy platinum as well as gold, silver and palladium.

Gold might hit $1,000 and platinum might hit $2,000 by the end of the first quarter, said William Kwan, dealer at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

Gold firmed to $926.60/927.50 from $918.00/918.70 an ounce. US April gold futures rose $8.50 to $930.60.

IMF gold sales may lead to some near-term profit taking, but professional traders will be cautious in establishing short positions following repeated failed attempts to play corrections in gold of late, UBS Investment Bank said in a client note.

Palladium rose to $443/448 an ounce from $436/441 in New York, while silver rose to a high of $17.38 an ounce and was last quoted at $17.37/17.42, versus $17.10/17.15.—Reuters