By Glenys Sim Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum fell in Asia as Democrats and Republicans were unable to reach agreement on a $14 billion automaker bailout plan to keep General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC from collapsing. Futures, up 4 percent this week, earlier approached $840 an ounce on signs a compromise agreement may be reached overnight. GM and Chrysler are in a race against the clock as they need federal aid to keep from running out of cash early next year. Automakers account for almost two-thirds of platinum consumption. “Platinum prices have been hinging on this plan the whole week,” Lu Wei, an analyst at Jiangsu Holly Futures Brokerage Co., said today. “It’s still too soon to tell if this will be enough to save the automakers and support autocatalytic demand.” Platinum for immediate delivery fell as much as 0.7 percent to $830 an ounce, before trading at $831.50 an ounce at 11:41 a.m. Singapore time, up 3.6 percent for the week after rising for three of the past four days. The metal, used to make catalytic converters for car and truck exhaust systems, is down 46 percent for the year as auto sales slumped. The metal for January delivery was 1.7 percent lower at $831.10 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. October-delivery platinum on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange was down 1.1 percent at 2,428 yen a gram ($829 an ounce). Immediate-delivery palladium, also used in auto catalysts, slipped 0.6 percent to $180 an ounce at 11:42 a.m. Singapore time. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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