* There are signs of speculative excess in platinum -analyst * Benchmark U.S. yields at highest since March * Minutes of U.S. Fed’s January meeting due on Wednesday (Recasts, adds quotes, updates prices) By K. Sathya Narayanan Feb 16 – Gold prices fell as much as 1.7% on Tuesday to their lowest in more than a week on stronger U.S. Treasury yields while platinum eased in choppy trading after a rally that took it to a 6-1/2 year high. Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,805.88 an ounce by 10:16 a.m. EST (1516 GMT), having touched its lowest since Feb. 4. U.S. gold futures fell 1.6% to $1,793.70. “Gold is shifting away from being an inflation hedge asset, as has been the case for most of 2020, into a safe-haven asset once again,” said TD Securities commodity strategist Daniel Ghali, pointing to rising Treasury yields, Bullion is considered a hedge against inflation expected from massive economic stimulus that has also pushed U.S. 10-year Treasury yields higher, increasing the opportunity cost of non-yielding gold. Also weighing on gold, U.S. stock indexes opened at record highs on optimism surrounding a $1.9 trillion U.S. coronavirus relief package. Meanwhile, platinum fell 1.6% to $1,281.80 an ounce after touching its highest since September 2014. TD Securities’ Ghali said the drop was attributable to profit-taking after a rally driven by speculation over the potential for platinum demand to rise as a result of greener technologies. The metal, which is used in automobile catalytic converters to limit exhaust emissions, has rallied more than 20% this year on hopes that a recovery in the car market and a push for cleaner energy would spur demand. “While the upswing in the platinum price was fundamentally justified at first, given its previous undervaluation and the expectation of a renewed supply deficit, we now see signs of speculative excess,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note. On the technical front, “the 14-day relative strength index (of platinum) is now in overbought territory, which should sound alarm bells,” they added. Spot silver fell 0.8% to $27.36 an ounce while palladium slipped 0.4% to $2,378.37 after peaking at a one-month high of $2,424.26. (Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru Editing by David Goodman)
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