Gold rose to the highest in more than three weeks on speculation that China may buy more after increasing holdings 76 percent since 2003. “Investors expect China will buy more,” Dick Poon, manager of the precious metals trading desk at Heraeus Ltd., said from Hong Kong today. “The markets are still feeling very positive about this news.” China’s reserves stood at 1,054 metric tons, Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said April 24. That’s makes the country the world’s seventh-largest holder, behind the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, which stood unchanged at 1,104.45 tons. Immediate-delivery bullion rose as much as 0.6 percent to $918.55 an ounce, the highest since April 2, and was at $916.58 at 9:08 a.m. in Singapore. Silver gained to more than $13 an ounce for the first time since April 3, rising as much as 3 percent to $13.26, before trading at $13.16. Among other precious metals for immediate delivery, platinum gained 0.4 percent to $1,184 an ounce and palladium was little changed at $234.25 an ounce.

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