Gold advanced for second day as concern
about the U.S. debt ceiling weakened the dollar, increasing demand for bullion
as a haven. Platinum climbed to a three-month high, narrowing its discount to
gold.
Spot gold gained as much as 0.4 percent to $1,674 an ounce, and traded at $1,671.75 in Singapore. Bullion climbed 0.3 percent on
13 January as the dollar dropped to a 10- month low against the euro after U.S.
Treasury Secretary Timothy
F. Geithner warned failure to raise the debt ceiling by early March
would “impose severe economic hardship.”
Cash platinum rose as much
as 0.4 percent to $1,663.25 an ounce, the most
expensive since Oct. 18, after Anglo
American Platinum Ltd. (AMS), the biggest producer,
said on 13 January it will post a 2012 loss because of strikes that disrupted
its mines in South Africa. The metal traded last at $1,661.25, bringing its
discount to gold to about $10.50 on 14 January, the least since April.
Platinum has rallied 7.9 percent this year on expectations for improved auto demand
and threats to supplies. Amplats, as the
Johannesburg-based company is known, could look to close some of its older
mining shafts in South Africa which have
either been operating unprofitably or on tight margins, said HSBC’s Wen. Global
car sales exceeded 80 million for the first time ever in 2012 and will advance
2.4 percent to 82.7 million this year, predicts
research company LMC Automotive Ltd.
Spot silver added 0.4 percent to $31.155 an ounce, while palladium increased 0.5 percent to $707.25 an ounce.