Palladium soared to a record just shy of the $1,900 mark on Monday, while gold prices held steady as uncertainty over US-China trade talks took center stage ahead of a Dec. 15 deadline for fresh US tariffs. Autocatalyst metal palladium climbed to an all-time high of $1,898.50 an ounce and was last up 0.3% at $1,883.29 at 01:50 p.m. ET (1850 GMT).
"Palladium has a very strong fundamental backdrop with supply set to stay quite scarce and demand growth set to increase," said Daniel Ghali, commodity strategist at TD Securities.
Palladium has risen nearly 50% in 2019 on a sustained supply squeeze, and has constantly been breaking records, despite a weakening global auto sector. Increasingly stringent emissions regulations globally are raising the palladium in autocatalysts for gasoline-powered cars and 2020 could see the most number of regulations, Ghali added.
"There is a widespread expectation that (palladium) spot prices are headed towards $2,000 and the market does currently appear to be in a one-way street," INTL FCStone analyst Rhona O'Connell said in a note. "Even with the (auto) sector under pressure, palladium will be in deficit for the foreseeable future and the funds are chasing it higher."
Elsewhere, spot gold was steady at $1,459.52 per ounce. US gold futures settled mostly unchanged at $1,464.90. "The tariff deadline of Dec. 15 is certainly top of everyone's mind ... The situation is still uncertain, helping gold stay firm," TD Securities' Ghali said. Platinum eased 0.1% to $894.72 per ounce, while silver edged 0.1% higher to $16.58.
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