London — Platinum and palladium jumped by more than 4% on Tuesday as investors scrambled for position as the new year got under way and gold steadied after posting its biggest quarterly loss in more than three years. The themes of late 2016 appeared to be persisting in the wider markets, with equities bouncing while the dollar posted its biggest rise in three weeks. Spot platinum was up 4.6% at $940.80 by 3pm GMT, while sister metal palladium rose 4.7% to $710.30. "The repositioning in the futures market in the dying weeks of last year saw in platinum a rebuilding in the gross short position, and at the same time long positioning remaining fairly steady," said Mitsubishi analyst Jonathan Butler. "Right now I think this is some short-covering driving prices higher. "It’s the start of the year, and there are some funds re-balancing their portfolios. There might be some niche funds that are interested in these metals, so that is part of the mix as well." Palladium was the best-performi...
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