Gold rose to a three-month high in London as investors increase holdings of the metal as a haven on concern the global recession will deepen. Bullion rose above $900 an ounce on Jan. 23 for the first time since October. Economists expect a report tomorrow to show German business sentiment slumped, while U.K. home prices had the biggest annual decline since at least 2001. “All the comments you read about the economy are negative,” Wolfgang Wrzesniok-Rossbach, head of marketing and sales at Hanau, Germany-based Heraeus Metallhandels GmbH, said by phone. “There’s definitely safe-haven buying” and “this is going to continue,” he said. Gold for immediate delivery rose $6.05, or 0.7 percent, to $905.80 an ounce by 10:24 a.m. in London. February futures added $9.20, or 1 percent, to $905 in electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Twenty-eight of 31 traders, investors and analysts surveyed on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23 advised buying gold this week as a haven from economic turmoil. That’s the most bullish response since Bloomberg News began conducting the surveys in April 2004. Three said to sell. Gold in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, expanded by 1.6 percent to a record 832.6 tons, according to data on the company’s Web site. Citigroup Inc. said gold will average $825 an ounce this year and $900 next year, from previous estimates of $950 and $1,000, and said the metal remains “one of our preferred commodities.” Silver for immediate delivery lost 0.1 percent to $11.9662 an ounce. Platinum added $10, or 1 percent, to $968 an ounce and palladium retreated $2.50, or 1.3 percent, to $195 an ounce.

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