LONDON—Platinum and palladium rose, spurred on by data that showed further investment in exchange-traded funds backed by the two metals, but gold lagged behind because of concern that weakness in the euro might spark selling.
In the spot market, platinum rallied to its highest since August 2008 and palladium since July 2008.
Tuesday morning, platinum was at $1,627.50 a troy ounce, up 1% from Monday's closing level, while spot palladium was at $454, down 0.7%.
Spot gold was 0.2% higher at $1,134.55/ per ounce. Strength in the dollar limited the gains.
The latest data for new ETFs issued by ETF Securities Ltd .showed platinum holdings rose 29,993.16 ounces Friday to 119,940.731 ounces, while and palladium holdings rose 24,919.95 ounces to 124,896.929 ounces.
The two funds were launched Jan. 8.
"In previous weeks investors bought almost twice as much metal [as was] produced during that same time," said Commerzbank analyst Eugen Weinberg.
The PGMs, as platinum and palladium are called, are rising due to a combination of ETF investor interest, good auto sales in China and speculation that industrial demand will improve, Mr. Weinberg said.
"The prospect of a global economic recovery and especially improving car sales would be beneficial for PGM metals," said VTB Capital analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
However, Fairfax in London cautioned that a somewhat bearish outlook for the European auto industry presents a "note of caution" to platinum buyers.
The European auto market is the major market for diesel cars, which are the biggest consumers of platinum for use in catalytic converters.
"Longer term, fundamental demand will be significantly influenced by the health of the European auto market," Fairfax said. However, it added that with ETF buying strong at present and investment in commodities continuing, prices will be supported.
Meanwhile, traders said dip buying of gold will continue to buoy the metal but a larger move in external markets, such as the dollar or equities, will be needed to see a larger move in gold for now.
