Gold Gains Most in Two Weeks as Dollar Drop Spurs Metal Demand
November 28, 2011, 8:06 PM ESTBy Tony C. Dreibus and Debarati Roy
Nov. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Gold climbed the most in two weeks as a weaker dollar accelerated demand for the metal as an alternative asset.
The euro rose 0.5 percent against the dollar, heading for the biggest gain since Nov. 18, after German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble urged fast-track treaty changes to tighten budget discipline in the European Union, and Welt am Sonntag reported German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are planning a stability pact.
“Gold today has to do largely with the dollar pullback,” Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said by telephone. “Support for gold is well intact.”
Gold futures for February delivery gained 1.5 percent to settle at $1,714.50 an ounce at 1:43 p.m. on the Comex in New York, rising the most since Nov. 11.
The precious metal has climbed 21 percent this year, reaching a record $1,923.70 on Sept. 6, as investors sought to diversify away from equities and some currencies.
“People will continue to invest in gold because of the European calamity,” Miguel Perez-Santalla, a sales vice president at Heraeus Precious Metals Management in New York, said in a telephone interview.
Silver futures for March delivery rose 3.7 percent to $32.242 an ounce on the Comex, advancing for the first time in three sessions.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, palladium futures for March delivery gained 1.6 percent to $581.55 an ounce. Platinum futures for January delivery rose 0.4 percent to $1,539.50 an ounce.
--Editors: Steve Stroth, Millie Munshi
To contact the reporters on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net; Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
