Precious metals wrap-up: Gold, platinum and silver rally while palladium drops

Gold has rallied sharply in the new year while palladium has fallen indicating increasing safe-haven demand of the yellow metal even as worsening global growth prospects continued to weigh on industrial metals.

Charts show that gold has broken above a crucial resistance of $1,270, opening doors to levels above $1,300 like $1,322, $1,345 and $1,392, the 2014 high.

Palladium has been slightly higher in the first few days of the new year but lost momentum from the one-month high of $819 hit on 11 January. The metal fell to a three-month low of $743 on Friday before settling at $756.

Losses in palladium, though stand out when the rest of precious metals all rally. This might not lead to a downside trend immediately thanks to the sharp gains it made in the last year.

Gold has been inching higher since November in which month it hit a 4-1/2-year low of $1,131. By Friday's high of $1,282, the metal was up 13.3% off the last year low.

Gold was up during the first three months of 2014, when it rallied 14.8% and was down in the next eight months, during which it fell 18.75%.

Now the over 13% rally since November has significantly reversed the recent losses.

Compared to gold, silver's fall last year was much steeper. It fell 27% on the year when it hit a six-year low of $14.12 in December.

The reversal off the low has taken the white metal to a near four-month high of $17.83 by Friday, making a 12% jump.

Platinum has rallied to a near three-month high of $1,270, continuing the trend since 22 December when it was at a six-year low of $1,172.