Platinum was tightly rangebound all day, trading between $850 and $870, and ending dead flat at $863. Overnight, platinum has moved higher.

Silver fell off to $10.90 by the Comex open, but then it followed gold sharply higher, peaking at the exact same moment as gold, at $11.57, then traded between $10.30 and $10.50 for the rest of the day, closing at $11.36, up 15 cents. Overnight, silver has been flat. (Click here for charts)

Wednesday kept the streak alive, as both gold and silver are up all three days this week, although platinum showed little strength on a flat day. Gold hit a nine-week high, as falling oil and equities failed to detract from the influence of the suddenly-cratering US dollar.

Noting the trend, Zachary Oxman, of Wisdom Financial, said that, “The dollar is again spiraling downward and in this deflationary environment, people are looking for safety and a store of value.”

Oxman believes that “gold will continue to appreciate in the near term and probably slow after the first of the year.” He designated the $910 to $920 level as the key resistance area.

“The Federal Reserve has embraced ‘Helicopter Bernanke’s’ inflate or die massive reserve and money creation academic theories in an attempt to prevent deflation,” wrote Mark O’Byrne, executive director at Gold and Silver Investments Ltd.

“Markets realize that this will lead to a lower dollar and higher gold prices in the medium and long term,” O’Byrne said.

And though platinum continues to flounder, production cuts may soon buoy it somewhat, as miners in South Africa, source of almost 80% of world supplies of the metal, slash output.

Anglo Platinum has cut back planned 2009 production by 11 percent and cut capital spending, Aquarius Platinum has shut its Everest mine for six months, and Lonmin plans to close a site and cut 6,000 jobs.

Source: Gold, Silver Continue To Climb