Gold closed at the end of 2009 at $1104.00 USD on the London Fix, while silver closed at $16.99, platinum at $1466.00 and palladium at $402.00.

Yesterday, gold closed at an all-time high of $1222.50, while silver closed at $18.42, platinum at $1689.00 and palladium at $521.00.

While gold was up 10.7%, silver was up 8.4%, platinum was up 15.2% and palladium was up 29.6%.

Why do platinum and palladium continue to be overlooked as investment metals among the four precious metals with an international currency code? Palladium was the best-performing metal of the four in 2009, and continues to be this year. Platinum outperformed gold in 2009 and continues to outperform gold this year.

Previously, I wrote why platinum is the overlooked investment metal and currency.