Gold traded little changed in Asia amid expectations for a weaker dollar and a drop in oil prices, which reduced demand for bullion as an inflation hedge. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, stood unchanged for a third day at 1,104.09 metric tons yesterday, according to figures on the company’s Web site. Crude oil fell for a second day on rising stockpiles and weaker fuel demand, while the euro approached a seven-week high against the dollar. “The prospect for further U.S. dollar weakness, combined with low interest rates and gradually rising inflation expectations should create a positive impulse for the market,” Stefan Graber, commodity analyst at Credit Suisse Group, wrote in a note today. Gold for immediate delivery was little changed at $913.66 an ounce at 2:03 p.m. Singapore time. Bullion, denominated in dollars, tends to move opposite to the currency. The dollar’s rally is set to end in a “currency crisis,” investor Jim Rogers said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. The currency traded at $1.3621 per euro from $1.3582 in New York yesterday, when it reached $1.3668, the highest level since March 24. “We’re going to have a currency crisis, probably this fall or the fall of 2010,” Rogers said. “It’s been building up for a long time. We’ve had a huge rally in the dollar, an artificial rally in the dollar, so it’s time for a currency crisis.” Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, silver was little changed at $13.9375 an ounce, platinum climbed 1 percent to $1,132 an ounce and palladium added 0.6 percent to $237 an ounce.

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