June 9 (Bloomberg) -- Gold rebounded from its lowest in two weeks as the dollar weakened and some investors said that inflation may accelerate, increasing demand for the precious metal. Silver also advanced. The Dollar Index, a gauge of the U.S. currency against those of six major trading partners, fell as much as 0.3 percent to 80.702, paring yesterday’s gain, which had been driven by speculation the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates by the end of the year as the economy recovers. Gold often moves in the opposite direction to the dollar. “We’ve seen some dollar weakness over the last 24 hours, and that’s certainly helped to buoy the prices up,” Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services in Sydney, said by phone today. “We’ve got very good support at $945. Topside at the moment is $962.” Gold for immediate delivery gained as much as 0.4 percent to $955.35 an ounce, and traded at $952.45 at 8:37 a.m. in Singapore. The precious metal, which some investors buy to hedge against inflation, touched $943.80 yesterday, the lowest price since May 26. “Gasoline prices are certainly on the up,” Commodity Broking’s Barratt said. “That sends a message that we could get inflationary spin that could hold gold up.” Oil ‘Spike’ Crude oil for July delivery gained as much as 1.2 percent to $68.90 a barrel in New York, and gasoline futures rose as much as 0.7 percent to $1.9488 a gallon. Jeroen van der Veer, chief executive officer of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, said yesterday that there may be a price “spike” amid a lack of new investment. Oil has risen 54 percent this year. Gold for August delivery, the most-active contract on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, was unchanged at $952.50 an ounce. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, were unchanged at 1,132.15 tons yesterday, according to data on the company’s Web site. Silver for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.8 percent to $15.0637 an ounce, and was at $14.985 at 8:47 a.m. The metal lost 2.9 percent last week, the first drop in three weeks. Still, silver has outpaced gold this year. An ounce of gold now buys about 63.56 ounces of silver, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s down from a high of 84.4 on Oct. 10, which was the most since March 1995. Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, platinum slid 0.2 percent to $1,243.75 an ounce, extending yesterday’s 1.6 percent drop. Palladium was unchanged at $250.50 an ounce.

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