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How precious will the metals get?

The main drivers of the precious metal prices

The prices of gold and platinum are closely correlated, but there are certain differences between their movement. As a lot of investors are apparently paying close attention to these metals as alternative investment, I tried to summarize the main drivers behind the rising prices.

Gold:
1. Safe heaven for the US dollar holders
2. Increasing demand from Asian emerging middle class, particularly India (c. 20% of the world demand)
3. Decrease in annual production, to a large extent due to energy supply problems in South Africa

Platinum:
1. Alternative asset for equity investors (also holds for gold)
2. Increased use in environmentally-friendly technologies, for instance hybrid cars
3. Decrease in annual production, to a large extent due to energy supply problems in South Africa, which produces up to 80% of the world output

Seems like the high prices are going to be sustained for a while...

For the reference, links to gold and platinum price quotes:
http://www.gold.mitsubishi.co.jp/price/price.cfm
http://markets.ft.com/tearsheets/performance.asp?s=us@gc.1

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