Gold rose in New York and London today on speculation that inflation and a weaker dollar will boost the metal’s investment appeal. Platinum climbed to an eight-month high in London. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s value, is down 5 percent the past month. Gold, which typically moves inversely to the currency, has added 7.2 percent in the period. The European Central Bank is likely to follow the Bank of England in maintaining the pace of asset purchases, economists said. “Given background fears of inflation and fiat currency devaluation, the metal will continue to be viewed favorably by investors,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said today in a note. “We doubt it will be long before gold tests the high from February.” Gold futures for August delivery rose as much as $6.40, or 0.7 percent, to $972 an ounce and was at $971.10 on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division at 8:47 a.m. local time. The metal, which dropped 1.9 percent yesterday, last traded above $1,000 on Feb. 24. Bullion for immediate delivery in London added $6.71, or 0.7 percent, to $969.78 an ounce. Gold fell to $967.25 an ounce in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from $976.75 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing. Platinum Advances Platinum gained as much as 1.5 percent to $1,257 an ounce in London, the highest since Sept. 23. The metal, mainly used in autocatalysts, was last at $1,244.75, up $6, or 0.5 percent. Platinum futures for July rose 0.4 percent to $1,249.80 an ounce. Platinum and palladium have advanced this week on better- than-expected U.S. auto sales and on speculation that General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC will emerge from bankruptcy better able to compete in world markets. The ECB today kept its benchmark interest rate at a record- low 1 percent. Even as policy makers bicker over the extent of asset purchases, the bank is unlikely to signal it will buy more than the 60 billion euros ($85 billion) of covered bonds it has already announced, economists said. The BOE kept up plans to spend 125 billion pounds ($207 billion) in U.K. debt markets and left rates at a record low 0.5 percent at today’s meeting. Dollar Link Yesterday, the metal dropped the most in almost two months after the dollar index gained the most in more than four months. “Risk-averse buying has dried up and everybody who wanted to be long in gold already is, while risk sentiment is significantly better,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said in a note. “We would expect gold’s correlation to the dollar to remain strong, while its correlation to the stock markets will start weakening.” Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, fell to 1,132.50 metric tons yesterday from a record 1,134.03 tons, the company’s Web site showed. Silver futures for July delivery in New York fell 0.4 percent to $15.245 an ounce in New York. Palladium for September rose 1.8 percent to $246.95. Palladium held in ETF Securities Ltd.’s exchange-traded commodities rose 4.6 percent to 308,513 ounces yesterday from 294,837 ounces the day before, according to the company’s Web site. Platinum assets increased 1.5 percent to 296,997 ounces.

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