Gold Jumps to Highest Since November on ECB’s Bond Plan

Gold futures jumped to the highest in almost 11 months as the European Central Bank said it is ready to start buying government bonds, boosting demand for the metal as a store of value. Silver, platinum and palladium also gained.

The ECB will begin purchases “once all the prerequisites are in place,” President Mario Draghi said today after policy makers left the benchmark interest rate at a historic low of 0.75 percent. In the third quarter, gold gained 11 percent, the most since June 2010, as the Federal Reserve announced a third round of U.S. monetary stimulus.

“A global accommodative stance will continue to support gold,” William O’Neill, a partner at Logic Advisors in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, said in a telephone interview.

Gold futures for December delivery climbed 0.9 percent to settle at $1,796.50 an ounce at 1:43 p.m. on the Comex in New York. Earlier, the price reached $1,797.70, the highest for a most-active contract since Nov. 9.

UBS AG said in a report that its physical gold sales to India yesterday were the highest since April as the rupee strengthened against the dollar.

Silver futures for December delivery advanced 1.2 percent to $35.101 an ounce on the Comex, the highest settlement since March 1.

Platinum futures for January delivery rose 1.8 percent to $1,725.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest settlement since Sept. 21, 2011.

Palladium futures for December delivery jumped 2.6 percent to $674.75 an ounce on the Nymex, the biggest gain since Sept. 10.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debarati Roy in New York at droy5@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net