By Claudia Carpenter April 21 (Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed for a second day in London on demand for a hedge against risks in the debt market. Platinum jumped to a 20-month high and palladium rose to the highest price in two years on car demand. Greece begins talks today on an emergency aid package and needs to raise about 10 billion euros ($13.4 billion) before the end of May. Gold assets in the exchange-traded product of ETF Securities Ltd. in Switzerland jumped 39 percent yesterday, according to figures from the company. “We have Greece, there’s also questions about Ireland, Spain, and Portugal, and what about the U.K. deficit,” said Gerhard Schubert, head of precious metals at Fortis Bank Nederland in London. “Gold is what it says on the tin: a safe haven.” Gold for immediate delivery rose $2.43, or 0.2 percent, to $1,143.18 an ounce at 9:47 a.m. local time. Bullion futures for June delivery advanced 0.4 percent to $1,143.30 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Platinum jumped as much as 1.5 percent to $1,741.65 an ounce, the highest since August 2008, and palladium climbed 2.5 percent to $565.25, the highest since March 2008. Automakers account for about half of global platinum and palladium consumption, according to estimates by metals refiner, trader and researcher Johnson Matthey Plc. SA Peugeot Citroen, Europe’s biggest automaker after Volkswagen AG, reported a 28 percent jump in first-quarter sales. Daimler AG, the world’s second-biggest maker of luxury vehicles, lifted profit forecasts. General Motors Corp. repaid $5.8 billion in loans to the U.S. and Canada, Chief Executive Officer Ed Whitacre said in the Wall Street Journal. ‘Economic Stabilization’ “If you have any belief of world economic stabilization, then that’s definitely a reason for platinum and palladium to go higher,” Schubert said. “There are no sizeable stocks of platinum and palladium at industrial users, so if the car industry picks up a little bit you will see this immediately in the uptake.” Platinum may rise to $1,900 an ounce in a month, exceeding gold’s gain to $1,200, he said. The gold assets in the ETF Securities Swiss product rose to a record 14,407 ounces yesterday from 10,365 ounces the day before, equal to about a $4.6 million purchase of gold. “You don’t see that kind of size unless it’s institutional” buying, said Nicholas Brooks, head of research and investment at ETF Securities in London. Silver increased 0.5 percent to $17.938 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

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