Gold rose to the highest in more than three weeks on speculation that China may buy more after increasing holdings 76% since 2003. "Investors expect China will buy more," Dick Poon, manager of the precious metals trading desk at Heraeus, said from Hong Kong today. "The markets are still feeling very positive about this news." China’s reserves stood at 1054 metric tons, Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said April 24. That’s makes the country the world’s seventh-largest holder, behind the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, which stood unchanged at 1104.45 tons. Immediate-delivery bullion rose as much as 0.6% to $US918.55 an ounce, the highest since April 2, and was at $US916.58 in Singapore. Silver gained to more than $US13 an ounce for the first time since April 3, rising as much as 3% to $US13.26, before trading at $US13.16. Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, platinum gained 0.4% to $US1184 an ounce and palladium was little changed at $US234.25 an ounce.

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