Nornickel fund might buy 6 tonnes of palladium in 2016 - paper
MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax) - Global Palladium, an investment fund established by Norilsk Nickel , might buy up to 6 tonnes of palladium by the end of 2016, the Russian mining giant's CFO, Sergei Malyshev said, newspaper Izvestia reported.
This amount is worth about $130 million at current prices.
"The palladium fund was successfully created and carried out its first transactions this year. It is planned that 2016 will become the starting year in the fund's work. Nornickel confirms the maximum limit of fund financing at up to $200 million. The company has now contributed a smaller amount to start operations (less than $100 million). The first transactions were made with these funds," Malyshev said.
The fund bought about 3 tonnes of palladium, or about 90,000 ounces, at the market price in the first half of 2016, he said.
The scale of operations in the second half will depend on the market situation and could be comparable to the first half, Malyshev said.
Malyshev said earlier that this year the fund would not spend even a third of the $200 million that would be contributed to its capital.
Analysts have said that one of the main sellers of palladium to the new fund is the Central Bank, whose reserves are a state secret.