Platinum extends gains to fifth day; palladium near three-year top

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Platinum extended its winning streak to a fifth straight session on Tuesday as talks to resolve a 5-month long strike in top producer South Africa were deadlocked, with the mining minister quitting his role as a mediator.

Palladium, of which South Africa is the second biggest producer, was near its highest in nearly three years, while trading in gold was muted as global equities were near a record high.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Platinum rose 0.1 percent to $1,445.50 an ounce by 0022 GMT, after earlier hitting a one-week high of $1,454.75. It has gained 1.5 percent in the last four sessions.

* Palladium also gained to trade near $844 - its highest since August 2011.

* Wage talks between South Africa's AMCU union and major platinum producers were deadlocked on Monday, prompting the mining minister to abandon his mediation role and dashing hopes for an end to a strike that is pushing the economy towards recession.

* The five-month strike has halted mines that normally account for 40 percent of global platinum output.

* Meanwhile gold was trading flat at $1,251.15 an ounce as its investment-hedge appeal was dented by stronger stock markets.

* Deutsche Bank said on Monday it begun operating a precious metals vault in London, joining a series of other institutions that offer to store gold in the global centre of the over-the-counter bullion market.

* Investors dumped gold and energy exchange traded products (ETPs) in May as some of the heat came out of the Ukraine crisis, the latest monthly data from asset manager BlackRock shows. Some $297 million was withdrawn from gold ETPs.

MARKET NEWS

* Global equity markets edged higher on Monday, boosting a gauge of world stock performance to near an all-time high, as low interest rates bolstered sentiment even as U.S. Treasury yields rose.

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Michael Perry)