Gold rebounded from the lowest level in almost four weeks in London as debt concerns in the U.S. and Europe spurred demand for the metal as a protection of wealth. A U.S. Congress budget supercommittee failed to reach agreement on reducing the budget deficit and data today may show European consumer confidence sank to a two-year low, according to a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Holdings in exchange- traded products backed by gold climbed to a record yesterday as prices dropped 2.7 percent, the most in eight weeks. “We’re seeing a bit of physical buying� after yesterday’s drop, Afshin Nabavi, a senior vice president at bullion refiner MKS Finance SA in Geneva, said today by phone. “I remain positive on gold because of all the mess going on in the world.� Immediate-delivery gold gained $14.28, or 0.9 percent, to $1,691.60 an ounce by 9:31 a.m. in London. Prices yesterday fell to $1,667.03, the lowest since Oct. 25. Gold for December delivery was up 0.8 percent at $1,691.90 on the Comex in New York. Bullion is in the 11th year of a bull market and prices reached a record $1,921.15 an ounce on Sept. 6 as investors sought to diversify away from equities and some currencies amid debt crises and concerns about slowing economic growth. Holdings in gold-backed exchanged traded products climbed 2 metric tons yesterday to an all-time high of 2,341.94 tons, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service kept the U.S.’s credit rating unchanged after Congress’s special debt- reduction committee failed to reach an agreement, setting the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts. Gold Bars “We expect inflows into both gold bars and coins and ETFs to continue as Europe and the U.S. are still not free from the sovereign-debt issues,� Samsung Securities Co. analysts led by Simon Francis wrote in a note today. “The global economic growth outlook continues to deteriorate and U.S. interest rates should remain low for longer.� Silver for immediate delivery was little changed at $31.6575 an ounce after dropping to a one-month low of $30.6875 yesterday. Palladium was 0.3 percent higher at $592.50 an ounce, after falling a one-month low of $583.50 yesterday. Platinum rose 0.8 percent to $1,561 an ounce, after yesterday touching $1,537.75, the lowest price since Oct. 25. To contact the reporters on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net; Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Deane at jdeane3@bloomberg.net

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