* Speculators bet on fall in S. Africa platinum output
* Charts show platinum near overbought territory
* Gold-platinum spread narrows after platinum rally
* U.S. Redbook retail sales data Tuesday
By Frank Tang
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Platinum prices jumped nearly 2
percent on Monday, hitting a two-month high after deadly
violence at a mine in top producer South Africa triggered heavy
speculative buying on supply worries.
Bullion prices edged up as trading volume for U.S. gold
futures was on track to hit a 2012 low, while silver jumped
almost 3 percent as platinum's rally triggered short-covering.
Investors bought platinum on worries that mines in South
Africa may produce less of the metal after 44 people were killed
during a strike at the Marikana mine owned by Lonmin
, which accounts for 12 percent of global platinum
output.
"Platinum could test its 200-day moving average above $1,500
on the possibility that the Marikana mine can be shut down for
an extended period of time or that strike ends up spreading to
other mines," said Phillip Streible, senior commodities broker
at futures brokerage R.J. O'Brien.
Spot platinum rose 1.6 percent to $1,487.49 an ounce,
after hitting a high of $1,492.99 an ounce by 3:03 p.m. EDT
(1903 GMT), which marked its highest since June 18.
Trading volume of U.S. NYMEX platinum futures was 25 percent
above its 30-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed.
Last week, platinum posted a 5-percent rally, its biggest
weekly rise since February.
The metal soared 7 percent in the past three sessions,
bringing its year-to-date gain to 7 percent, which means
platinum has outperformed gold, silver and copper so far in
2012. On technical charts, platinum's relative strength index is
at 69.8, just a hair below 70 which is seen as overbought.
"Markets that are overbought can very easily get a lot more
overbought before they go down," said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan
Capital.
Speculative fervor in platinum futures was evident even as
about a third of the workforce trickled back to work at Lonmin
on Monday. Analysts said the lost platinum production due to the
work stoppage at Lonmin has been negligible so far.
Deutsche Bank said in a note that platinum market's expected
surplus for 2012 "could easily be wiped out" if labor violence
prolonged at Lonmin or if the unrest spread to other mines.
Platinum's climb also benefited sister metal palladium
, which rose to an eight-week high at $608.50 an ounce in
early trade. It was up 0.4 percent at $607.70.
PLATINUM DISCOUNT NARROWS
Platinum's rise narrowed its discount to gold to less than
$130 an ounce from above $230 an ounce a week ago.
Platinum's rally has lifted gold and silver, which have been
recently trading in a range on speculation about whether the
U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank could launch
more gold-friendly monetary stimulus.
Spot gold was down 0.3 percent at $1,620.74 an ounce
by 3:03 p.m. EDT (1903 GMT).
U.S. December gold futures for December delivery
settled up $3.60 an ounce at $1,623.
Silver gained 2.7 percent at $28.79 an ounce.
Buying by central banks, a major support to bullion prices
this year, was evident again last month, after Russia's central
bank said on Monday that it added another 18.7 tonnes of gold to
its reserves in July.
3:03 PM EDT LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL
US Gold DEC 1623.00 3.60 0.2 1611.80 1624.70 64,435
US Silver SEP 28.593 0.591 2.1 27.875 28.750 29,253
US Plat OCT 1498.20 25.10 1.7 1461.00 1498.60 13,829
US Pall SEP 607.70 2.60 0.4 597.00 609.80 2,631
Gold 1620.74 5.15 0.3 1610.70 1622.40
Silver 28.790 0.760 2.7 27.960 28.800
Platinum 1487.49 22.99 1.6 1464.25 1492.99
Palladium 604.10 1.80 0.3 600.52 608.50
TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG
US Gold 66,868 155,146 185,326 16.71 0.03
US Silver 35,531 39,460 56,400 22.53 -0.67
US Platinum 14,326 11,465 9,529 23.01 1.65
US Palladium 3,498 4,925 4,385
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