Gold gained for the first time in three days after Moody’s Investors Service cut Spain’s credit rating, spurring demand for the metal as a haven. Bullion for immediate delivery added 0.4 percent to $1,664.20 an ounce at 9:25 a.m. in Singapore, after dropping 0.4 percent to $1,651.73. December-delivery gold climbed for the first time in three days, gaining as much as 0.9 percent to $1,666.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. “The fundamentals that support gold’s status as a safe haven have not changed,” Julian Jessop, chief global economist at Capital Economics Ltd., wrote in a report. “Gold’s value does not depend on the creditworthiness of any government or financial institution. We continue to expect the price of gold to top $2,000 as sovereign-debt worries continue to build.” Moody’s yesterday cut Spain’s rating for a third time since June 2010 as Europe’s debt crisis weighs on the country’s growth prospects. Standard & Poor’s downgraded it on Oct. 14 and Fitch Ratings cut its ranking on Oct. 7. Gold has fallen 10 percent in the past two months as the dollar climbed 4 percent against a six-currency basket on concerns that Europe’s crisis may worsen. “The more general return of confidence in the dollar has reduced demand for gold as a hedge against a collapse in the U.S. currency,” Jessop wrote yesterday. “But we do not expect this to hold back gold much longer. Confidence in the dollar relative to gold could also be undermined again by the potential fall-out from fresh euro-zone shocks on the U.S. economy and banks.” Cash silver dropped as much as 0.7 percent to $31.8225 an ounce, before trading little changed at $32.0575. Spot platinum gained 1.2 percent to $1,552.50 an ounce and palladium rose 0.4 percent to $625.75 an ounce. To contact the reporter for this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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