By Nicholas Larkin and Glenys Sim April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gold, trading little changed near a two week high in London, may gain as an improving economy and weakening dollar spur demand for the metal. Platinum and palladium climbed to the highest prices since 2008. European and Asian equities gained and the dollar traded near a one-week low against the euro as signs the global economic recovery is accelerating sapped demand for the greenback as a refuge. Gold, which typically moves inversely to the U.S. currency, gained 1.5 percent in the three months ended yesterday, a sixth quarterly increase. “Equities are up and that indicates investors are buying more risky assets” including gold, said Peter Fertig, the owner of Quantitative Commodity Research Ltd. in Hainburg, Germany. Still, “the slight recovery in the euro may be a bit of profit taking,” and any dollar rebound may be negative for gold, he said. Gold for immediate delivery added as much as $5.15, or 0.5 percent, to $1,118.40 an ounce, the highest price in almost two weeks. The metal traded at $1,116.63 at 10:17 a.m. local time. Bullion for June delivery was 0.2 percent higher at $1,117.10 on the Comex in New York. The MSCI World Index of equities gained as reports showed Chinese manufacturing accelerated and confidence among Japan’s industrial companies improved. Other reports today may show U.S. manufacturing grew and fewer Americans filed claims for jobless benefits. 200 Million Clients The World Gold Council and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. plan to develop new gold investment products, the producer-funded group said today. One investment program may involve the bank, which has more than 200 million clients, buying gold on behalf of customers in daily increments to smooth out volatility, the Wall Street Journal reported. Gold posted quarterly increases between 0.8 percent and 8.9 percent since the end of 2008, marking the longest rally since 1979. The metal is trading 9 percent below a record $1,226.56 set on Dec. 3. “The higher quarterly close is important technically and shows momentum and the medium- and long-term trend remains upward,” said Mark O’Byrne, executive director of broker GoldCore Ltd. in Dublin. “The slow, steady and gradual rise of gold in recent quarters also contradicts the commonly held view that gold is a speculative bubble.” Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, were unchanged for a second day at 1,129.8 tons yesterday, according to the company’s Web site. Among metals for immediate delivery in London, silver rose as much as 1.5 percent to $17.7313 an ounce, the highest price since Jan. 21, and was last at $17.6925. Platinum climbed as much as 1.2 percent to a 20-month high of $1,663.50 an ounce and last traded at $1,660.88. Palladium advanced to a two-year high of $490.75 an ounce and was last up 2.2 percent at $490.48 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net.

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