Platinum, palladium prices off multi-month highs, gold listless
Spot palladium rose for four straight weeks and peaked at a 17-month high of $759.75 an ounce on Monday, before dropping 1.4 percent to $744.47 by 0356 GMT, headed for its biggest daily decline in nearly a month.
An improving global economic outlook has helped platinum and palladium outperform gold and silver so far this year, as demand prospects brightened for these metals, which are mainly used in industrial production and jewellery.
"The market is probably disappointed from lack of follow-through after we hit new highs yesterday," said a Singapore-based trader, adding that overall sentiment remained bullish in platinum and palladium.
The speculative net longs in U.S. palladium futures and options spiked nearly 19 percent on the week to 22,532 lots in the week to Jan 29, up 23 percent so far this year, data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed.
Net longs in platinum rose 7 percent on the week to 40,938 contracts, up 46 percent so far this year, CFTC data also said.
Spot platinum edged down 0.4 percent to $1,686.49, off a four-month high of $1,705.25 hit in the previous session.
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