Platinum rises on South African mine conflict

Topics: From the Wires,

The price of platinum is rising as protests continue at a South African mine where nearly four dozen people have been killed during a labor conflict.

Platinum gained 2.6 percent Friday to end at $1,473.10, its highest level since early July.

The violent labor dispute began a week ago. The platinum mine near Johannesburg is closed. It’s owned by Lonmin PLC, which is the world’s third largest platinum producer.

Platinum is used in automobile catalytic converters, spark plugs and computers among other products. Global supplies are plentiful and demand is weak but there is speculation that inventories may tighten if the mine dispute continues for an extended period.

In other trading, prices are higher for oil, gold, copper, wheat and soybeans. Corn and silver are lower.

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