By Glenys Sim Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum plunged below the price of gold for the first time since 1996 after the Senate rejected a $14 billion bailout plan for automakers in the U.S., the world’s biggest market for cars and light trucks. Platinum for immediate delivery fell as much as 3.4 percent to $807.50 an ounce while gold today dropped as much as 1.3 percent to $811 an ounce. Automakers account for almost two- thirds of global platinum consumption. Metals have tumbled since mid-year as a global recession eroded demand for industrial commodities. Platinum is used as a catalyst for pollution control devices in vehicles and in jewelry. Commodities fell today as a bill to bail out automakers including General Motors Corp. failed to get enough votes in the Senate. “If no one is making cars, where is the demand for platinum going to come from,” Lu Wei, an analyst at Jiangsu Holly Futures Brokerage Co., said today by phone. Platinum traded down 2.8 percent at $813 an ounce at 1:12 p.m. in Singapore while gold fell 0.7 percent to $815.50 an ounce. “The initial reaction is a knee-jerk one because the data has been telling us for months that auto demand for platinum is slowing down,” Lu said. Auto sales in the U.S., the world’s biggest vehicle market, plunged 37 percent in November from a year earlier, with cars and light trucks sold at the lowest annual rate in 26 years. Growth of cars sales in China, which have surged fivefold over the past eight years, slipped to 9 percent in the third quarter, the slowest pace in five years. European and Japan vehicle sales also slumped. Platinum last traded at parity with gold in December 1996. That year, the white metal averaged $397.44, trading as high as $443.50 and as low as $366.10. Gold averaged $387.81 and traded as high as $418.40 and as low as $365.95. Bullion reached a record $1,032.70 on March 17. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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