LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Brokerage StoneX Group Inc
said on Thursday it has become a participant in
auctions run twice a day in London that set global benchmark
prices for platinum and palladium.
StoneX subsidiary StoneX Financial is the sixth participant
in the auctions run by the London Metal Exchange (LME). The
others are BASF Metals, Goldman Sachs, HSBC
, ICBC Standard Bank and Johnson Matthey.
These companies funnel orders into the auctions.
Firms around the world buy and sell platinum and palladium
through the auctions, and the prices they generate are embedded
in contracts across the industry.
StoneX is also a participant in daily gold and silver
benchmark auctions run in London by ICE Benchmark
Administration, an arm of Intercontinental Exchange.
Platinum and palladium are used primarily by automakers, who
embed them in engine exhausts to reduce harmful emissions,
though platinum is also used in other industries such as
glassmaking, as well as in jewellery and for investment.
(Reporting by Peter Hobson in London
Editing by Matthew Lewis)