Gold climbed to the highest in more than two months in New York as bullion exchange-traded product sales stalled and amid political tension over Syria. Platinum reached a four-month high. Bullion-backed exchange-traded product holdings increased for a second successive week last week, narrowing this year’s drop to 26 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Crude oil futures rose for the third day in four in New York after the U.S. said it will hold Syria’s government accountable for the use of chemical weapons. Gold slid 16 percent this year as some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of value and on speculation the U.S. Federal Reserve will reduce stimulus that helped prices gain for a 12th year in 2012. The metal rebounded from a 34-month low of $1,179.40 an ounce in June as lower prices boosted demand for jewelry, coins and bars. “The fact that investment demand has picked up again somewhat of late, coupled with the escalating Syrian conflict, could see the upswing continue,� analysts at Commerzbank AG wrote today in a report. Gold for December delivery climbed 1.5 percent to $1,413.90 an ounce by 7:45 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices reached $1,415.30, the highest since June 7. Futures trading volume was 7.6 percent below the average for the past 100 days for this time of day, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Gold for immediate delivery in London rose 0.7 percent to $1,414.16. Central Banks Central-bank purchases compensated for some of the sales from ETPs. Russia and Kazakhstan expanded their gold reserves for a 10th straight month in July, data on the International Monetary Fund’s website show. Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Guatemala also added to reserves in July, the IMF data show. President Barack Obama will hold the Syrian government accountable for the “indiscriminate slaughter� of its own people with chemical weapons last week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. Gold prices that rose in six of the past seven weeks pushed the metal’s so-called relative-strength index to 72.1 today, above the level of 70 that suggests the price may be set to decline. Silver for December delivery gained 1.5 percent to $24.41 an ounce in New York, after reaching $24.465 yesterday, the highest since April 30. Platinum for October delivery reached $1,558 an ounce, the highest since April 9, and was last up 0.3 percent at $1,548.60. Palladium for September delivery added 0.3 percent to $748.30 an ounce. To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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