Gold was little changed after reaching a record in London and New York as concern about faster inflation and a weakening dollar boosted demand for the metal as an alternative investment. Silver touched a 31-year high. Consumer prices in China, the world’s fastest growing major economy, rose 5.4 percent in March, the quickest pace since 2008, exceeding the government’s 2011 target for a third month. Gold, which has climbed in the past decade, gained this year as the dollar weakened and on concerns about Japan’s nuclear disaster, fighting in Libya and European debt. Inflation concerns “have brought in another bit of interest” to gold, Afshin Nabavi, a senior vice president at MKS Finance SA, a bullion refiner in Geneva, said today by phone. “Obviously all the geopolitical problems” and a weakening dollar have supported prices, he said. Immediate-delivery bullion rose as much as $5.17, or 0.4 percent, to $1,479.35 an ounce and was little changed at $1,472.23 by 10:17 a.m. in London. Gold for June delivery was little changed at $1,473 an ounce on the Comex in New York after reaching a record $1,480.50. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s value, was little changed after yesterday falling to a 16-month low. Bullion typically moves inversely to the dollar. Fourteen of 18 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 78 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Three predicted lower prices and one was neutral. Best Performer Silver for immediate delivery climbed as much as 0.7 percent to $42.44 an ounce, the highest price since January 1980, the year the metal reached a record $50.35 in New York. It was last down 0.4 percent at $41.9656 and has surged 36 percent in 2011. It’s the best performer this year among the 24 commodities tracked by the Standard & Poor’s GSCI spot index. Silver held in exchange-traded products slipped 242.82 metric tons to 15,238.7 tons yesterday, data compiled by Bloomberg from four providers show. That’s the biggest slide since at least February 2010. An ounce of gold bought as little as 34.79 ounces of silver today, the least since September 1983, data compiled by Bloomberg show. China’s central bank has raised rates four times since October to combat accelerating prices. Billionaire investor George Soros, chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, said on April 10 that inflation in China was “somewhat out of control.” “Inflation is the key word to investors,” said Park Jong Beom, a Seoul-based trader at Tongyang Futures Co. “Gold will test $1,500 next week.” The limitations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s air campaign in Libya have become evident as a seven-week rebel drive to push Muammar Qaddafi from power has ground to a standstill. NATO’s chief said the alliance needs more attack jets to target Libyan ground forces. Palladium was down 1.2 percent at $769.75 an ounce. Platinum was little changed at $1,791.25 an ounce. To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at kkim19@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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