Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Trade volume on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange Inc., which operates Japan’s largest raw materials futures bourse, climbed 14.6 percent this year from a year earlier, the first annual increase in five years.

Volume totaled 31,670,031 contracts in 2011 from 27,636,367 contracts in 2010, the bourse said in a statement today. Still, the volume in 2011 was 64 percent lower than the exchange’s record of 87,252,219 contracts in 2003, the bourse said.

“The increase was because of active bullion trade in August and September,” Taiki Obuchi, the bourse’s spokesman said. Gold reached a record $1,921.15 an ounce on Sept. 6.

Immediate-delivery gold climbed as much as 1.1 percent to $1,563.57 an ounce and was at $1,561.20 by 5:08 p.m. in Tokyo. The price rose 9.9 percent in 2011, heading for an 11th annual gain. Spot gold is on track of the longest bull run since at least 1920 as investors seek to hedge against weakening currencies, declining equities and rising inflation.

The bourse trades gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rubber, kerosene, gasoline and crude oil.

--Editors: Richard Dobson, Ovais Subhani

To contact the reporters on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net; Ichiro Suzuki in Tokyo at isuzuki@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net