Platinum rallied to a close of $1540.10 on the back of Chinese PMI data that showed

Platinum rallied to a close of $1540.10 on the back of Chinese PMI data that showed the manufacturing sector of the world’s #2 economy pushed back into expansion territory. Chinese PMI moved across the 50 threshold, coming in at 50.1 this month compared to a reading of 47.7 in July. The white metal pushed as high as $1547 in overnight hours but has since returned to yesterday’s closing levels. Platinum is likely also finding support from the situation in South Africa where wage negotiations between the the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and their employers in the gold mining sector have apparently collapsed. The threat of a spillover into the rest of the mining industry will likely be on the minds of market participants as we head into the weekend. Palladium pushed to a close of $755 on Thursday but now trades slightly lower at $751. Today could be a rather quiet end to the week as there is little in the way of market moving economic data on tap. New Home Sales data is due out at 10:00 am but after yesterday’s so-called “Flash Freeze” on the Nasdaq, investors might take the opportunity to start their weekend a little early and come back refreshed on Monday. Have a great weekend!