MW: Gold, platinum diverge; platinum up as much as $19
By Myra P. Saefong
JMPLY PL1V GC1Z
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold and platinum prices diverged early Monday, with gold losing ground and platinum tacking on as much as $19 an ounce. Platinum is likely seeing some benefit due to the U.S. debt ceiling agreement, said Tim Murray, general manager of precious metals marketing at Johnson Matthey JMPLY +1.52% . October platinum PL1V +0.88% was up $13.60, or 0.8%, at $1,798.90 an ounce after a high of $1,804.90 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. December gold GC1Z -0.35% fell $3.40 to $1,627.90. \"Gold is falling due to investors putting a bit more risk on again -- maybe temporarily -- and platinum is seeing some of that money,\" Murray said, noting that net long positions on the Nymex show that both platinum and palladium have seen \"healthy inflows over the past week or so.\"
