Palladium hits 6-year high to track platinum

SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Palladium rose to its highest
level in more than 6 years on Monday, tracking sister metal
platinum, which rallied to record high for the 13th sucessive
day on acute power problems in South Africa.

Spot palladium <XPD=> hit a high of $450 an ounce, up from
$444.00/449.00 late in New York on Friday.

Spot platinum <XPT=> hit a high of $2,087 an ounce, up from
$2,050/2,055 an ounce late in New York on Friday.

Analysts say the global platinum deficit could widen to
400,000 to 500,000 ounces by the end of 2008, compared with
about 265,000 ounces in 2007. The market had a surplus of
65,000 ounces in 2006 following seven successive years of
deficit.
(Reporting Lewa Pardomuan; Editing by Valerie Lee)