Gold advanced to a record, trading at more than $1,500 an ounce, as investors sought to protect their wealth from further currency debasement and accelerating inflation. Silver reached a 31-year peak, topping $46 an ounce. Immediate-delivery gold advanced as much as 0.4 percent to $1,508.88 an ounce and traded at $1,508.20 by 1:56 p.m. in Singapore. Bullion for June delivery in New York rose as much as 0.7 percent to $1,509.50 an ounce. The dollar weakened to a 15-month low against the euro, after Standard & Poor’s lowered the U.S. credit-rating outlook this week to negative, citing the widening deficit. The Treasury Department has projected the government will reach its $14.3 trillion debt-ceiling limit no later than May 16 and run out of options for avoiding default by early July. “U.S. Treasury numbers are showing that U.S. debt cannot be repaid without a dollar debasement,” Lachlan Shaw, an analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note. “Demand is also growing for gold as an inflation hedge.” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said this week that the U.S. will “absolutely” keep its AAA rating, speaking in an interview on Fox Business Network. Geithner said yesterday in an interview on Bloomberg Television that he’s confident U.S. political leaders will bridge differences on spending. ‘Unwise to Buck Trend’ Gold is on course for an 11th annual advance on increased investment demand for commodities and on concern that inflation will accelerate after governments spent $2 trillion to stimulate their economies. Violence in the Middle East, sovereign-debt turmoil in Europe and Japan’s nuclear crisis have also helped propel gold 31 percent higher in the past year. “The issues driving gold such as inflation, euro zone debt and Middle East and North African unrest are not going to be solved overnight,” James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com in London, said in an e-mail. It’s “unwise to buck the trend.” Seventeen of 20 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 85 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Two predicted lower prices and one was neutral. Assets in gold exchange-traded products stood at 2,070.477 metric tons as of yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Holdings reached a record 2,114.6 tons in December. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities rose as much as 1.7 percent yesterday. Commodity assets under management rose to a record $412 billion in March, Barclays Capital said in an e-mailed report yesterday. Gold futures in Shanghai rose to a record for a second day, touching 316.29 yuan ($48.52) per gram. Cash silver gained as much as 1.8 percent to $46.07 an ounce, approaching the record $49.45 an ounce set in 1980. Palladium climbed 1.4 percent to $770.25 an ounce and platinum rose 0.5 percent to $1,811.25 per ounce. To contact the reporter on this story; Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at kkim19@bloomberg.net Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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