July 25 (Bloomberg) - Copper, oil and grains declined while gold climbed to a record as a lack of progress in raising the U.S. debt ceiling boosted concern that the U.S. may default, hurting industrial commodities and foodstuffs and boosting demand for a haven. Immediate-delivery gold gained as much as 1.4 percent to $1,624.07 an ounce and traded at $1,613.20 by 10:21 a.m. in Singapore. Copper on the London Metal Exchange declined as much as 0.4 percent to $9,636 a metric ton. Crude for September delivery fell 1 percent to $98.86 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The U.S. is the biggest consumer of crude oil and the second-largest user of copper. House Speaker John Boehner told Republicans that there’s no agreement on a plan for raising the ceiling before a default threatened for Aug. 2. The impasse has boosted the chance Standard & Poor’s will cut the U.S. credit rating from AAA within three months to 50 percent, the company said July 21. “We see classic risk-off mode and they’ll certainly be selling commodities, gold the exception,” said Paul Deane, an economist at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne. Investors boosted gold holdings in exchange-traded products to a record 2,122.6 tons last week as European policy makers met for the second time in a month in a bid to calm Greece’s financial distress and inoculate Spain and Italy from contagion. The S&P GSCI Index of 24 commodities dropped 0.7 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index lost 0.8 percent. The Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the dollar’s value, declined as much as 0.3 percent. ‘Credible Solution’ A Republican congressional official said Boehner, speaking by telephone to lawmakers, is reporting that discussions are continuing on raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling. Standard & Poor’s said in a report that even if Congress raises the limit in time to avert a default, it might lower the U.S. AAA sovereign credit rating to AA+ with a negative outlook if a deal isn’t accompanied by a “credible solution” on the debt burden. “EU resolve on Greece shifts market focus to stalled U.S. debt-ceiling talks, which gold prices are likely to track,” James Steel, an analyst at HSBC Securities USA Inc., wrote in a note dated July 22. Still, “a sudden agreement on the debt ceiling is always possible, and we would expect gold to react quickly and negatively to any such news,” Steel said. Republicans prepared to force action on a shorter-term extension of the limit than President Barack Obama has requested, defying a veto threat. The president would veto a measure that doesn’t extend the limit into 2013, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on July 24. ‘Negative Reaction’ Daley warned that “markets around the world” would react negatively to a short-term measure offering less than $2.4 trillion in borrowing authority. Corn for December delivery dropped 2 percent to $6.72 a bushel. November-delivery soybeans fell 0.9 percent to $13.7575 a bushel and September wheat fell 1.1 percent to $6.845. “It’s probably going to get solved” in the end but it doesn’t really matter if they reach it or not, said Dominic Schnider, director for wealth management research at UBS AG, said by phone from Singapore. “People are now becoming so aware of the ballooning debt in the developed world the risk that the U.S. sees a rating downgrade.” Silver for immediate delivery climbed 1.2 percent to $40.5537 an ounce. Platinum gained as much as 0.5 percent to $1,802.74 an ounce. Zinc in London dropped as much as 1.2 percent to $2,465 a ton and nickel declined 0.5 percent to $23,851. To contact the reporters on this story: Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne at psedgman2@bloomberg.net; Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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