By Glenys Sim May 7 (Bloomberg) -- Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, rose by the most in 15 months to the highest ever, according to figures on the company’s website. Assets held by the fund jumped 19.78 metric tons, the most since Feb. 17, 2009, to 1,185.79 tons yesterday. The trust is the world’s sixth-largest stockpile of the precious metal, behind France’s 2,435.4 tons, according to data from the producer-funded World Gold Council. “There was strong safe-haven demand for gold given the declines on equity markets and worries about the debt position of several European countries,” David Moore, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in an e-mail today. Gold for immediate delivery surged to $1,210.70 an ounce yesterday, just 1.3 percent short of its peak of $1,226.56 an ounce reached Dec. 3. The metal was down 0.2 percent at $1,206 an ounce at 8:47 a.m. in Singapore. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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