By Claudia Carpenter and Kim Kyoungwha April 22 (Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed for a third day in London on signs of investor demand for an alternative to the euro as Greece seeks to restructure its debts. Gold in euros is within 1 percent of the record on April 9, compared with 6 percent below the all-time high for gold in dollars on Dec. 3. Greek 10-year bonds dropped for an eighth day today as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said the country is likely to cut or delay payments to bond investors. “People are saying if Greece is in trouble, we don’t want to buy euros anymore,” said David Thurtell, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. in London. “People have been going out of euros and into gold.” Gold for immediate delivery gained $1.35, or 0.1 percent, to $1,148.10 an ounce at 9:07 a.m. local time. The futures for June delivery on the Comex in New York were little changed at $1,148.30. Holdings of gold in London warehouses for the ETF Securities Ltd. exchange-traded product increased yesterday about 0.3 percent to 3.46 million ounces, according to figures from the company. Assets in the biggest gold-backed fund, SPDR Gold Trust managed in Boston, have been unchanged since April 8. “Gold will probably enjoy more safe-haven buying as Greece appears to have remained a source of concern for markets,” said Steve Chun, a commodity trader with Hyundai Futures Co. in Seoul. Platinum and palladium gained on signs of increased demand from automakers that use the metals in autocatalysts to reduce vehicle emissions. Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, said quarterly profit jumped fivefold to a record after an economic recovery spurred demand for new models at home, Europe and the U.S. Platinum, Palladium Rise Automakers account for about half of demand for both metals, according to autocatalyst manufacturer Johnson Matthey Plc. Platinum climbed 1.1 percent to $1,752.25 an ounce and earlier traded at $1,754.85, the highest since August 2008. Palladium rose 0.6 percent to $569.38 and earlier increased to $572, the highest since March 2008. London-based research company GFMS Ltd. is set to release its annual report on both markets in London today. Silver gained 0.3 percent to $18.154 an ounce. --Editors: John Deane, Stuart Wallace. To contact the reporters on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net; Kyoungwha Kim in Singapore at Kkim19@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stuart Wallace at swallace6@bloomberg.net

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