Gold declined in London as concern that Europe’s debt crisis is deepening boosted the dollar and curbed demand for the metal as an alternative investment. The dollar climbed to a two-year high versus the euro as the cost of insuring against default on Spanish government debt climbed to a record. The nation’s 10-year note yields also rose to a euro-era all-time high. Greece’s creditors arrive in Athens tomorrow to assess the country’s progress in meeting its bailout targets. “It’s the dollar strength,� Marc Ground, a commodities strategist at Standard Bank Plc in Johannesburg, said by phone today. “People are definitely worried about Europe. They’re relying more on the dollar as a safe haven.� Bullion for immediate delivery fell 1 percent to $1,569.05 an ounce by 9:24 a.m. in London. Prices are up 0.3 percent this year. August-delivery futures were 0.9 percent lower at $1,568.40 on the Comex in New York Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest bullion-backed exchange-traded product, fell 2.4 metric tons on July 20 to 1,254.6 tons, the lowest level since Jan. 24, data on the company’s website show. Spain, the euro region’s fourth-biggest economy, will auction bills tomorrow maturing in three and six months. The country last month sought loans of as much as 100 billion euros ($121 billion) from the European Financial Stability Facility to recapitalize its banks battered by the collapse of the property boom in 2008. Silver for immediate delivery dropped 1.6 percent to $26.88 an ounce. Palladium slipped 1.4 percent to $567.92 an ounce. Platinum was 1.6 percent lower at $1,391.24 an ounce. To contact the reporter for this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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