Gold declined for a second day in London as a stronger dollar and a European Union pledge to stabilize the region’s economy curbed demand for the metal. EU leaders vowed to stave off a Greek default as long as Prime Minister George Papandreou pushes through a package of budget cuts next week. The dollar gained against the euro and headed for a third weekly advance. Gold, which typically moves counter to the greenback, slid 1.8 percent yesterday as oil drove commodities lower, and on June 22 climbed within 1.3 percent of a record set last month. “A stronger dollar is normally negative for gold,” Peter Fertig, owner of Quantitative Commodity Research Ltd. in Hainburg, Germany, said today by phone. “There is temporarily less urge to buy gold as a safe haven” after EU leaders reiterated a pledge to help Greece, he said. Immediate-delivery gold fell $4.40, or 0.3 percent, to $1,517 an ounce by 12:06 p.m. in London. The metal is down 1.5 percent this week. Gold for August delivery was down 0.2 percent at $1,517.60 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Bullion fell to $1,521 an ounce in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell output, from $1,523 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing. Yesterday’s decline pushed bullion below its 50-day moving average, currently at $1,521.12, for the first time since February. Some analysts and investors study charts of trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a commodity. Gold’s Record Gold is up 6.8 percent in 2011 after climbing the past 10 years, the longest run of gains in at least nine decades. Europe’s debt crisis helped bullion reach a record $1,577.57 on May 2. Twelve of 16 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 75 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Two predicted lower prices and two were neutral. European finance chiefs will decide on July 3 whether Greece has met conditions for its next aid payment. Greek lawmakers must approve the 78 billion-euro ($111.4 million) package in a vote next week, a condition for receiving a fifth loan payment under an existing bailout and for future financing. Failure to secure aid would push Greece to the brink of default, with the country needing the funds to cover 6.6 billion euros of maturing bonds in August. Silver for immediate delivery fell 1.6 percent to $34.7537 an ounce in London. Holdings of the metal in exchange-traded products rebounded from a nine-month low, gaining 24.3 metric tons to 13,484.5 tons, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Palladium declined 1.2 percent to $739 an ounce. Platinum down 0.3 percent at $1,697.70 an ounce after yesterday dropping to a three-month low of $1,685.10. To contact the reporters for this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Phoebe Sedgman in Wellington at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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