Palladium prices rose on Friday even as the dollar rose against most major rivals and following weak Chinese data.

Impala Platinum CEO, Muller, said the quick decline in palladium and rhodium prices hurt profits and shifted focus to costs reduction.

He added there's still no risks of shuttering mines but the administration is assessing the profitability of each mine.

The Johannesburg-based mining company said its profits in the year ending June 30 fell 41%, while profit distribution fell 65%.

Rhodium prices fell by nearly two thirds in 2023 to $4100 an ounce, while palladium fell 31% this year to $1230 an ounce.

Muller said that while record high prices were sustainable, the steep and shocking decline was quite a surprise. 

South Africa is the world's largest rhodium supplies, and the world's second producer of palladium after Russia.

Mining was also hurt by electricity outages in South Africa, which cut Impala mining activities by 4% last year.

In addition, weakening demand in China is expected to hurt prices even further.

Otherwise, the dollar index rose 0.5% as of 16:41 GMT to 104.1, with a session-high at 104.1, and a low at 103.2.

Palladium futures due in December rose 0.6% to $1,225.5 an ounce.

Oil prices rose in European trade on Friday, extending gains for the fourth straight day, with US crude scaling a ten-month high, while Brent hit an eight-month high on expectations Saudi Arabia will extend its voluntary production cuts for another month.

Prices are also boosted by a steep decline in US crude stocks last week, and strong Chinese factory data.

Global Prices

US crude rose 2.2% to $85.35 a barrel, the highest since November 2022, while Brent added 1.9% to $88.38 a barrel, the highest since January.

US crude rose 2.3% on Thursday, while Brent added 1.8%, the third profit in a row.

Saudi Output

Many analysts expect Saudi Arabia to extend its voluntary production cuts by a million bpd for the third month in a row until the end of October.

Riyadh already extended its production cuts until the end of September, while Russia vowed to cut its crude exports by 300 thousand bpd next month.

Thus analysts believe the oil market is heading for a considerable deficit as the Saudi cuts will deepen market shortages to three million bpd in the third quarter of the year according to some estimations.

US Stocks

The Energy Information Administration reported a steep drop of 10.6 million barrels in US crude stocks last week to a total of 422.9 million barrels, while analysts expected a drop of 2.2 million barrels.

Gasoline stocks fell 200 thousand barrels to 217.4 million barrels, as distillate stocks rose 1.2 million barrels to 117.9 million barrels.

Chinese Demand

Earlier Beijing data showed factory activities returned to growth in August as the Chinese government continues to support the struggling housing sector. 

US economy added 187 thousand new jobs in August according to the non-farm payrolls report, above estimates of 169 thousand, and up from 157 thousand in July. 

Dollar fell in European trade on Friday against a basket of major rivals, approaching two-week lows as chances for a US interest rate hike in November diminish.

Now traders await crucial US jobs data later today, which will shed light on the conditions of the labor sector.

The Index

The dollar index fell 0.15% to 103.49, with a session-high at 103.77, after closing down 0.5% on Thursday, the first profit in four days off two-week lows at 102.94. 

The index rallied 1.75% in August, the first monthly profit in three months as US treasury yields surge.

The index is now on track for weekly losses as odds for another US interest rate hike this year decline considerably following weak data.

US Rates

Current odds for maintaining interest rates unchanged in September stand at 89%, while odds for maintaining interest rates in November stand at 56%.

Jobs Data

Now investors await crucial data later today, including US payrolls report, which covers new jobs, average hourly wages, and unemployment.

At 12:30 GMT, US non-farm payrolls data is expected to show the addition of 169 thousand new jobs in August, while unemployment is expected to settle at 3.5%.