Sept. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum and palladium gained, following gold and silver higher, as a weaker dollar increased investment demand for precious metals as a store of value. Gold and silver climbed to three-month highs as the dollar slid as much as 0.6 percent against the euro. Most platinum and palladium is used in emissions-control parts for cars and trucks, as well as jewelry. Some investors buy platinum as an alternative to holding dollars when the currency weakens. “Gold is pulling the other precious metals along with it,” Miguel Perez-Santalla, a Heraeus Precious Metals Management sales vice president in New York, said in a note. Platinum futures for October delivery gained $13.90, or 1.1 percent, to $1,244 an ounce at 10:12 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal, which rose 2.5 percent last month, was up 31 percent this year through yesterday. Palladium futures for December delivery jumped $4.05, or 1.4 percent, to $293 an ounce. Before today, the metal surged 53 percent this year, including an 11 percent gain in August. Some automakers, including Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co., reported drops in U.S. sales last month, even as some purchases were subsidized by the $3 billion “cash for clunkers” government program. A similar stimulus effort in Germany, the world’s largest with funding of 5 billion euros ($7.1 billion), ended yesterday. ‘Uncertainty’ in Platinum “We have the uncertainty about price prospects in platinum-group” metals, Jon Nadler, a Kitco Inc. senior analyst in Montreal, said in an e-mailed report. He said the subsidies in the U.S. and Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, will probably boost scrap-metal supplies of platinum and palladium as older vehicles head for junkyards and their parts are recycled. Platinum prices fell earlier as potential supply threats eased in South Africa, the world’s biggest source of the metal. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd., which produces about a quarter of the world’s annual output, is restarting its Marula mine in South Africa as workers return from a strike even as talks over pay continue, said Bob Gilmour, spokesman for the Johannesburg-based company. To contact the reporter on this story: Halia Pavliva in New York at hpavliva@bloomberg.net.

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