Rhodium prices edged slightly lower this week after a large exchange-traded fund offered hundreds of ounces to the market at lower levels.
The Platts New York Dealer rhodium price dipped to $680-$720/oz from $685-$720/oz last week, though some deals were concluded below $680.
Market sources agreed that several hundred ounces offered for sale this week appeared to come from the db Physical Rhodium ETC, managed by German banking giant Deutsche Bank.
The offers prompted major European refiners to lower their base prices early in the week.
Engelhard Materials Services, a division of German specialty chemical maker BASF, lowered its price to $710 Thursday from $730 on December 4.
UK-based Johnson Matthey lowered its base price to $710 Thursday from $720 on December 4.
"The ETF has been selling it pretty hard," one PGM dealer in the US Northeast said. "There have been buyers below $700, but the sellers are still hitting bids."
Other sellers included PGM scrap recyclers, who also offered significant volumes to the market when platinum and palladium rallied this week, the dealer said, putting this week's range of physical deals between $660 and $710.
A PGM refiner who put the market at $675-$710 said the selling appeared to come from "an institutional client that was ... unloading before year-end." More selling might be seen over the next week, he said.
"It's definitely leaning lower; I wouldn't want to be long this market," the refiner added.
A second PGM refiner was not sure if the rhodium did originate from the Deutsche Bank ETF, but did agree that speculative investors appeared to be offering significant volumes for sale over the last few weeks.
"So finally we're seeing a little bit of two-way interest down here, but it inches its way lower a little bit every week," he said, putting the market between $670 and $720. "I'm guessing here, but it's probably end-of-year stuff."
But market sources also agreed that buyers had emerged when offers fell below $700, with one European dealer saying he had "transacted a lot of business" below that level, and put the market at $680-$720.
A PGM dealer in the New York area who saw the market at $680-$710 said, "At this point, it seems the buyers and sellers have met at a slightly lower level now."
