Platinum is trading at $1,072.90, and a broad range of $1,065-$1,102 has formed over the past few days as prices challenged the local high of $1,113.10, but failed to gain a foothold above that mark. Technically, price action looks rangebound, while a move to $1,125 could be in the cards before long.
Longer term, platinum prices are heading towards $1,250-$1,400. This assumption is underpinned by the fact that industrial use of platinum will gradually increase as the automotive sector moves towards increasingly more stringent emission standards. Platinum is widely used in advanced catalytic converters.
There is also a chance that in the medium term, strong demand for platinum might not shape up due to industrial supply chain disruptions, where there is a gap in the supply of microchips and other components. However, the launch of several global chip production facilities in Asia is expected as early as 2022, which should partially solve the problem.