Gold advanced for second day as concern about the U.S. debt ceiling weakened the dollar, increasing demand for bullion as a haven. Platinum climbed to a three-month high, narrowing its discount to gold. Spot gold gained as much as 0.4 percent to $1,674 an ounce, and traded at $1,671.75 at 11:17 a.m. in Singapore. Bullion climbed 0.3 percent yesterday as the dollar dropped to a 10- month low against the euro after U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned failure to raise the debt ceiling by early March would “impose severe economic hardship.� Lack of progress on the budget deficit has “positive implications for gold,� Howard Wen, an analyst at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., wrote in a note. “The platinum group metals rallied as supply concerns in South Africa persist.� Cash platinum rose as much as 0.4 percent to $1,663.25 an ounce, the most expensive since Oct. 18, after Anglo American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the biggest producer, said yesterday it will post a 2012 loss because of strikes that disrupted its mines in South Africa. The metal traded last at $1,661.25, bringing its discount to gold to about $10.50 today, the least since April. Platinum has rallied 7.9 percent this year on expectations for improved auto demand and threats to supplies. Amplats, as the Johannesburg-based company is known, could look to close some of its older mining shafts in South Africa which have either been operating unprofitably or on tight margins, said HSBC’s Wen. Global car sales exceeded 80 million for the first time ever in 2012 and will advance 2.4 percent to 82.7 million this year, predicts research company LMC Automotive Ltd. Spot silver added 0.4 percent to $31.155 an ounce, while palladium increased 0.5 percent to $707.25 an ounce. To contact the reporter on 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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