Gold rose a second day in London on demand for a store of value after the International Monetary Fund projected that the global economy will shrink this year. The IMF yesterday forecast a 1.3 percent contraction for the world economy, compared with the 0.5 percent expansion estimated in January, and said growth will be slower next year than previously expected. Bullion, which is traditionally bought as a haven in times of economic turmoil, is heading for its first weekly increase in more than a month. “Gold is supported in the shorter term on the fear of global economic contraction, as projected by the IMF,” Emanuel Georgouras, a precious-metals trader at Marex Financial Ltd. in London, wrote today in a note. The metal for immediate delivery gained $3.63, or 0.4 percent, to $893.38 an ounce by 9:20 a.m. local time. June futures added 0.2 percent to $894.30 an ounce in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. While a recovery will start early next year, a “return to normal” will take much longer, IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard said at a briefing in Washington. “This is not the time for complacency,” he said in a statement accompanying the fund’s semiannual World Economic Outlook. “However, the market still seems to be lacking momentum to push beyond the $900 mark, weighed down by stalling investment in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund,” Pradeep Unni, an analyst at Richcomm Global Services DMCC in Dubai, wrote today in a note. Investment in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest ETF backed by bullion, was unchanged for a third day at 1,105.98 metric tons yesterday, according to the company’s Web site. Among other metals for immediate delivery in London, silver gained 1.1 percent to $12.435 an ounce. Platinum lost 0.3 percent to $1,169.50 an ounce, and palladium was 0.1 percent lower at $232.25 an ounce.

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