Platinum rose to a six-month high in London on speculation that demand for the metal used in autocatalysts will strengthen. Gold advanced. U.S. orders for items such as machinery and computers jumped 3.4 percent in February, a report yesterday showed. That was the biggest gain in more than a year and the first in seven months. Asian equities and U.S. stock futures climbed today on speculation government measures will help revive the economy. “Some people may think that perhaps the car industry will start to pick up,” Greg McKinnell, a precious-metals trader at London-based Johnson Matthey Plc, said today by phone. “With the economic stimulus package at the moment there’s some confidence in the market.” Platinum for immediate delivery gained as much as $26, or 2.3 percent, to $1,150.50 an ounce and traded at $1,149.25 as of noon local time. The metal has advanced 23 percent this year after plunging 39 percent in 2008, its worst performance since at least 1987. Palladium rose as much as 3.7 percent to the highest since Nov. 7. Still, “it’s very hard to say with any real conviction that this is the start of the upturn,” McKinnell said. “There’s no real change with the fundamentals.” Automakers account for about half of global platinum and palladium use, according to metals researcher and refiner Johnson Matthey. Its estimates account for recycling. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest carmaker, said industry sales in the U.S. worsened in March as rising unemployment cut demand. U.S. auto sales last month were the lowest since December 1981. Gold Steady Gold for immediate delivery rose $5.48, or 0.6 percent, to $939.51 an ounce in London. April futures added 0.4 percent to $940 an ounce in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. “Given the volatility and caution across the financial markets, gold is likely to remain in a choppy mood in the coming sessions, trading broadly sideways between $900 an ounce and $965,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, wrote today in a note. The metal reached a three-week high of $967.17 on April 20 as the Federal Reserve said it would buy bonds in an effort to revive the economy. Government injections of funds via so-called quantitative easing may devalue the dollar, spur future inflation and boost gold prices, some analysts said. “The market will be looking for clues on quantitative easing” when the European Central Bank meets next week, said Manqoba Madinane, an analyst at Standard Bank Group Ltd. in Johannesburg. “The heightened uncertainty regarding the role of the dollar could support gold, and precious metals in general, despite scrap gold flooding the market.” ETF Inventories Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by the metal, were unchanged at a record 1,124.99 metric tons yesterday, according to figures on the company’s Web site. Assets in ETF Securities Ltd.’s exchange- traded commodities advanced to a record 7.2 million ounces as of March 24, data on the company’s Web site shows. Bullion increased to $935 in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from $929 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing. Spot prices are heading for the fourth weekly decline in five weeks. Among other metals for immediate delivery in London, silver rose 1.2 percent to $13.65 an ounce. Palladium increased 3.1 percent to $222.25 an ounce after climbing as high as $223.50.

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