Gold climbed to the highest price in almost two weeks in New York as speculation central banks will take more action to spur growth boosted demand for the metal, Bloomberg reported. It said reports showed yesterday that euro-area manufacturing output contracted for an 11th straight month in June and manufacturing in the U.S. unexpectedly shrank. European Central Bank officials are forecast to cut their main interest rate to an all-time low on July 5, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Gold for August delivery rose as much as 1.1% to US$1,615 an ounce, the highest price since June 20, and was at US$1,612 by 7.59 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Bullion for immediate delivery was 0.9% higher at US$1,611.77 in London. The metal is up 2.9% this year even after plunging 4% in the previous three months, the worst quarterly performance since 2008. Bullion jumped about 70% as the Federal Reserve bought US$2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of so-called quantitative easing ending in June 2011. Silver for September delivery gained 1.6% to US$27.935 an ounce. Palladium for September delivery climbed 2.1% to US$590.35 an ounce. Platinum for October delivery was up 1.3% at US$1,477.80 an ounce.

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