Gold climbed for the first time in four days, extending the best quarterly gain in more than two years, as central banks boost stimulus to bolster economic growth and strikes halt output from mines in South Africa. Spot gold gained as much as 0.4 percent to $1,760 an ounce and was at $1,758.20 at 2:14 p.m. in Singapore. The metal is up 10 percent since June 30, set for the biggest quarterly gain since the three months to June 30, 2010. December-delivery bullion rose 0.4 percent to $1,760.90 an ounce on the Comex. The Federal Reserve announced a third round of debt-buying Sept. 13 to buoy the U.S. economy, while the Bank of Japan will add to a fund that buys assets. The European Central Bank announced an unlimited bond-purchase program Sept. 6 and China approved a subways-to-roads construction plan. Holdings in gold- backed, exchange-traded products reached a record on Sept. 25 “It’s been the quantitative-easing programs that have been instigated and now you’ve got market concerns about the inflationary aspects of them,� said David Lennox, a resources analyst at Fat Prophets in Sydney. Strikes in South Africa “will be giving prices good leverage on the upside,� he said. Strikes in South Africa halted about 39 percent of the country’s output as workers seek above-inflation pay increases. AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG), the third-largest producer, said yesterday that all of its South African mines have shut. In China, cash gold of 99.99 percent purity dropped 0.5 percent to 356.50 yuan ($56.53) a gram on the Shanghai Gold Exchange, poised for a quarterly advance. Gold climbed 70 percent as the Fed bought $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of quantitative easing from December 2008 through June 2011. ETP holdings fell 0.4 percent to 2,542.31 metric tons yesterday, the first drop since Aug. 31, according to data tracked by Bloomberg. The record is 2,551.86 tons. Spot silver gained as much as 0.7 percent to $34.195 an ounce and was at $34.105. Prices are set to rise 24 percent this quarter, the biggest gain since the final three months of 2010. Immediate-delivery platinum was little changed at $1,637.20 an ounce. Palladium was unchanged at $630.50 an ounce. To contact the reporter for this story: Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne at psedgman2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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