By Jae Hur Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum declined for the first time in four days on speculation that a global economic slowdown will force carmakers to further cut production, reducing demand for the metal in autocatalysts. Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s biggest automaker, plans to cut production by 20 percent from January to March at a French plant making Yaris cars, Nikkei English News reported, without saying where it got the information. The factory will cut monthly production of the vehicles to about 50,000 from 65,000 by increasing the number of holidays, the newspaper said. “The auto sector has been hit hard by this global recession and the industry is the major consumer of platinum,” said Tatsuo Kageyama, an analyst at Kanetsu Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “There may also be some profit-taking before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday,” he said. U.S. markets will be closed Nov. 27 for the holiday. Immediate-delivery platinum fell as much as 1.6 percent to $856.50 an ounce and was at $867 at 6:16 p.m. Tokyo time. The metal yesterday touched $875.50, the highest since Nov. 10. Before today it gained 12 percent in the past three days. Palladium for immediate delivery was down 0.3 percent at $198 an ounce after rising 1.5 percent yesterday. Platinum has declined 62 percent from a record $2,301.50 an ounce in March as sales at carmakers plunged. Automakers globally are cutting production as recessions in the U.S., Japan, and the 15 European nations that use the euro sap demand for cars. Car Sales U.S. industrywide car sales are headed for the worst year since 1991 as banks cut back on lending and unemployment rises. U.S. automakers led by General Motors Corp. are seeking $25 billion in federal loans to help stave off a financial collapse. Mazda Motor Corp., Japan’s fifth- largest carmaker, said it will halt production at two domestic plants for two days in December on lower demand. Mazda, based in Hiroshima, Japan, will halt production at two plants in Yamaguchi prefecture as part of its plan to reduce output by 73,000 vehicles in the second half of the fiscal year, it said in a faxed statement today. Automakers account for more than 60 percent of global platinum consumption, according to estimates by Johnson Matthey Plc, a London-based metals refiner, trader and researcher. Lonmin Plc, the world’s third-largest platinum producer, may cut as many as 2,600 jobs in South Africa, the Solidarity trade union said yesterday. London-based Lonmin said last week it will reduce output, halt expansion and shed jobs in South Africa and the U.K. October-delivery platinum gained 0.6 percent to close at 2,659 yen a gram ($869 an ounce) after trading between 2,584 and 2,675 yen on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange. The contract reached 2,728 yen yesterday, the highest since Nov. 10. To contact the reporter on this story: Jae Hur in Singapore at jhur1@bloomberg.net

Source