By Hiromi Horie and Dave McCombs Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Gold may jump to $1,000 an ounce as investors who have sold copper, platinum and other commodities seek the yellow metal as a haven, said Paul Walker, chief executive officer of London-based research company GFMS Ltd. Gold's decline in the past six to eight weeks is ``collateral damage'' as declines in other commodities prompted investors to sell holdings in indexes comprised partly of gold, Walker said. The metal has slumped 8.1 percent since Aug. 22. Gold, the most actively traded precious metal, has drawn investors seeking an asset that would hold value in times of financial turmoil and a weakening U.S. currency. The metal has dropped 3.7 percent since Sept. 15, the day Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, compared with a 28 percent slump for platinum and a 37 percent plunge in benchmark copper futures on the London Metal Exchange. ``In the past three to four weeks, a decoupling of gold and commodities such as platinum, copper and others has been under way,'' Walker said today at a Gold Week seminar in Tokyo. ``In the next six to 18 months, volatility in gold markets will be very high and it may try $1,000.'' Gold for immediate delivery today fell as much as 2.2 percent to $755.05 an ounce, the lowest since Sept. 12. It traded at $756.94 an ounce at 10:19 a.m. in London. Central banks have also been selling less gold this year, Walker said. Net sales by central banks will probably plunge about 46 percent to 269 tons this year from 501 tons in 2007, he said. ``Central banks' attitudes have been changing toward gold as the king of investments,'' Walker said. In June, he predicted gold would rise to $1,100 this year, saying ``a lot of the global economic uncertainties have not been eliminated.'' To contact the reporters for this story: Dave McCombs in Tokyo at dmccombs@bloomberg.net; Hiromi Horie in Tokyo at hhorie@bloomberg.net.

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