DJ PRECIOUS METALS: NY Platinum Up; Rustenburg Output Suspended

A temporary halt to output at a South African mine enabled platinum futuresto post a strong gain Monday while the rest of the precious-metals complex wasslightly mixed, analysts and traders said. July platinum settled up $13.50 to $1,299.50 an ounce and peaked at $1,302,its strongest level in a week. This occurred after Anglo Platinum, the world's largest producer of platinum,said it intends to suspend production at its Rustenburg mine for about sevendays to implement safety measures following the deaths of five workers in thelast two weeks. "That's pretty big news in the platinum arena," said one trader. This is expected to trim 2007 output by 10,000 to 15,000 ounces. "That's a pretty tight market. So that's the driving force there," said BillO'Neill, one of the principals with LOGIC Advisors. "And demand for platinum continues to be absolutely excellent on a globalbasis, with very strong industrial demand from Asia in particular. Any littledisruption (in supplies) is enough to throw it into deficit-productioncommodity."