Platinum fell in New York as stocks around the world climbed, reducing the appeal of precious metals as alternative investments. Palladium was little changed. Equities in Europe, Asia and the U.S. rose, extending last week’s gains, as finance heads from the Group of 20 nations vowed to clean up toxic assets and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the recession may end this year. The MSCI World Index advanced as much as 1.8 percent. Some investors sell platinum and palladium to raise cash when equities gain. “Positive U.S. and European equity indices put some pressure on platinum prices today,” said Bayram Dincer, a commodity analyst at Dresdner Bank in Zurich. Platinum futures for April delivery fell $7.60, or 0.7 percent, to $1,056 an ounce at 9:55 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price fell 1.4 percent last week. Palladium futures for June delivery were unchanged at $200 an ounce in New York. Before today, the most-active contract dropped 61 percent in the past year, including a 2 percent decline last week. “Right now the markets are quiet and trading-range bound on little volume,” Miguel Perez-Santalla, a sales vice president at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York, said in an e-mailed note. “It looks to be a quiet day unless some unexpected news hits the market.” The most-active platinum contract tumbled 49 percent in the past year before today as automotive sales and production slumped in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Most platinum and palladium is used in auto-emissions control parts. “Sideways action in the noble metals continues for a second week,” Jon Nadler, a senior analyst at Kitco Inc. in Montreal, said in an e-mailed note. “Well, so does the action in the automotive sector for that matter,” he said. “No news to bite into.”

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