Palladium tumbled to a one-month low early on Friday, extending its biggest drop in nearly a year in the previous session, as investors awaited confirmation that South Africa's longest mining strike would end soon. Gold prices edged up after Thursday's 1 percent gain. The safe-haven metal, however, failed to rally further on market expectations that security conditions in Iraq will improve soon, traders said.
The leader of South Africa's striking AMCU union said on Friday he hoped to meet the three major platinum firms over the weekend to give them formal feedback from workers about a wage offer that could mean the end of a five-month strike. On Wednesday, palladium rallied to a 13-year high on speculation of a deadlock in wage talks.
Palladium, however, tumbled as much as 5 percent on Thursday on news that platinum group metal (PGM) producers and the AMCU agreed in principle on a wage deal, taking a step closer to resuming operations after the longest strike in the 130-year history of South Africa's mines. Analysts said PGMs still have some upside as the miners start the long and slow process of getting operations back up.
"South African supply issues do not end with a resolution of the 21-week old strike," said UBS metals strategist Edel Tully. Palladium was down 1.7 percent to $816.00 an ounce by 1:01 pm EDT (1701 GMT), having touched its lowest since May 16 earlier. Platinum fell 0.2 percent to $1,431.49 an ounce. It lost almost 3 percent on Thursday in its biggest daily drop since June 2013.
South Africa's crippling five-month strike in the platinum belt has lifted palladium prices by more than 15 percent this year, outpacing gains in platinum which is up just six percent. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,274.50 an ounce. US COMEX gold futures for August delivery were up 90 cents at $1,274.90 an ounce. The metal, however, has not risen further following Thursday's one-percent gain as tensions in Iraq sent oil prices to a nine-month high.