Gold Climbs as Federal Reserve Stimulus Seen Boosting Demand

Bloomberg (24/10) -- Gold advanced in New York as speculation of extended Federal Reserve stimulus boosted demand for precious metals. Policy makers from Canada to Norway and Chile are reacting to another cooling of global growth, led this time by weakening in developing nations while inflation and job growth remain stagnant in much of the industrial world. Bullion rose 70 percent from December 2008 to June 2011 as the central bank pumped more than $2 trillion into the financial system. “We do see short-term speculative buying interest ahead and believe the Fed will keep its stimulus measures on the table until 2014,” said Bernard Sin, head of currency and metal trading at bullion refiner MKS (Switzerland) SA in Geneva. Gold futures for December delivery rose 0.7 percent to $1,343.80 an ounce at 8:09 a.m. on the Comex in New York.Silver gained 0.5 percent to $22.725 an ounce, platinum climbed 0.8 percent to $1,450.90 an ounce and palladium rose 0.3 percent to $748.40 an ounce.