By Nicholas Larkin and Glenys Sim April 8 (Bloomberg) -- Gold fell for the first time in six sessions in New York as a stronger dollar curbed investment demand for the metal and a rally to a three-month high encouraged selling. The dollar gained as much as 0.5 percent to the highest level in almost two weeks against the euro as the European Central Bank kept interest rates at a record low and amid concern Greece will default. Gold futures, which typically move inversely to the greenback, yesterday rose to $1,154.20 an ounce, the highest price since Jan. 12. The “gold price down direction is set by a stronger dollar,” said Bayram Dincer, a commodity analyst at LGT Capital Management in Pfaeffikon, Switzerland. Any details of ECB plans to withdraw emergency stimulus measures may also affect bullion, he said. Gold futures for June delivery slipped $6.60, or 0.6 percent, to $1,146.40 an ounce at 8:09 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Gold for immediate delivery in London was 0.3 percent lower at $1,145.90. The metal rose to $1,146.50 an ounce in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from $1,142 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing. Spot prices are 6.6 percent below a record $1,226.56 set on Dec. 3. Concerns over Greece’s budget deficit have dragged the euro down 7.1 percent this year against the dollar. Greek bonds dropped for a seventh day and swaps used to hedge against or speculate on a default by Greece rose to a record. Gold reached a record 863.466 euros yesterday. ‘Uptrend Intact’ “We’ll see bouts of profit-taking, but the uptrend is still intact as investors seek safety from uncertainties surrounding Europe’s economies,” Fu Chunjiang, an analyst at China Southern Futures Co., said from Guangdong. The ECB today kept its main interest rate at a record low 1 percent, and will likely keep it unchanged until year-end, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet holds a press conference from 2:30 p.m. in Frankfurt. The Bank of England kept its benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent and held a bond-purchase plan at 200 billion pounds ($304 billion) today. The bank didn’t comment on the economy or outlook for policy. Gold should advance before the U.S. raises interest rates and then decline as the dollar strengthens, Standard Chartered Bank said in a report, adding that it expects the metal to peak toward the end of the year. Bullion climbed 24 percent last year as central banks and governments maintained low borrowing costs and spent trillions of dollars to stimulate economies. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, added 0.91 metric ton to 1,130.74 tons yesterday, according to the company’s Web site. The fund’s assets had been unchanged for more than a week. Platinum for July delivery in New York fell 1.3 percent to $1,700.90 an ounce. Palladium for June delivery slipped 2.6 percent to $499.20 an ounce. Silver for May delivery declined 1 percent to $18.015 an ounce. --Editors: John Deane, Stuart Wallace. To contact the reporters on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net.

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