By Sungwoo Park June 15 (Bloomberg) -- Gold, little changed, may advance as a Greece’s credit rating was slashed, raising concerns the global economic recovery may slow and boosting demand for the precious metal as a means of protecting wealth. Greece’s credit rating was cut to non-investment grade, or junk, by Moody’s Investors Service, threatening to further undermine demand for the debt-strapped nation’s assets as it struggles to rein in its budget deficit. In New York, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 0.2 percent yesterday. “The Greece downgrade is fuelling demand for gold,” said C.H. Oh, head of overseas futures at NH Investment & Futures in Seoul. “Too much money is being printed and so there are not many assets you can put your money into. That’s why investors go for scarce assets and I’m bullish on gold in the long term.” Gold for immediate delivery in London rose as much as $2.60, or 0.2 percent, to $1,223.85 an ounce and traded at $1,220.85 an ounce at 1:37 p.m. Seoul time. Gold futures for August delivery on the Comex dropped 0.2 percent to $1,222.40 an ounce. Spot prices have jumped 11 percent this year, climbing to a record $1,252.11 an ounce on June 8, and are headed for a 10th straight annual advance, the longest run of gains since at least 1920. The metal has climbed amid speculation that debt-cutting measures by European nations will slow growth. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange- traded fund backed by bullion, were unchanged at a record 1,306.14 metric tons yesterday, according to figures on the company’s website. Silver Silver climbed 0.4 percent to $18.2950 an ounce at 1:39 p.m. Seoul time. The precious metal has gained 8.4 percent this year. The metal has a “good chance” to exceed the high of 2008, Philip Klapwijk, Executive Chairman of London-based research company GFMS Ltd., said by phone from Madrid on June 14. The silver price forecast by GFMS is for the London fixing, used by some mining companies to sell their output. The fixing price reached a high of $20.92 an ounce in March 2008. Platinum dropped for the first time in four days, losing 0.2 percent to $1,555.88 an ounce, while palladium gained 0.2 percent to $459.10 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net.

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