Platinum prices breached their resistance levels on Tuesday and palladium futures advanced as better-than-expected US car sales data and a new strike in South Africa, this one by engineers and metalworkers organized by the  National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), lured buyers into both markets.

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On Monday, June 30, the day’s biggest mover was US palladium bar, which saw a 1.3 percent increase to $845.00 per ounce. Chinese palladium bar gained 0.5 percent to finish at CNY 187.00 ($30.06) per gram. The price of Japanese palladium bar fell 0.4 percent on Monday, just off the 30-day high of JPY 2,756 ($27.17) per gram it hit the day prior.

US platinum bar prices rose 1.2 percent to $1,481 per ounce. The price of Chinese platinum bar increased 0.6 percent to CNY 314.00 ($50.48) per gram. Japanese platinum bar saw its price rise 0.3 percent to JPY 4,832 ($47.63) per gram.

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The price of Japanese gold bullion fell 0.5 percent to JPY 4,284 ($42.23) per gram. Indian gold bullion finished the day down 0.5 percent to INR 27,705 ($461.44) per 10 grams. The price of Chinese gold bullion declined 0.3 percent to CNY 262.50 ($42.20) per gram. US gold bullion saw little change in its price on Monday at $1,317 per ounce.

After improving for two days, the price of US silver declined 1.2 percent to $20.87 per ounce. Weakening prices followed two days of improvement as the price of Indian silver dropped 0.6 percent to INR 45,803 ($762.87) per kilogram. The price of Japanese silver closed at JPY 680.00 ($6.70) per 10 grams. Following a couple days of improvement, prices fell by 0.4 percent. Chinese silver prices saw a 0.2 percent decline to CNY 4,290 ($689.64) per kilogram.