VINACHEM

Gold advanced from a five-month low,after the biggest one-day drop since October, as investorsassessed whether the U.S. economy is strong enough to warrant areduction in monetary stimulus.

Bullion for immediate delivery gained as much as 0.4percent to $1,224.39 an ounce, and traded at $1,223.89 at 9:22a.m. in Singapore. Prices earlier dropped to $1,217.84, thelowest since July 8, after tumbling 2.7 percent yesterday, themost since Oct. 1.

Gold lost 27 percent this year, touching a 34-month low of$1,180.50 in June, on speculation the Fed will start paringasset purchases that drove a 12th annual advance in 2012 as theeconomy improves. Data yesterday showed that while U.S.manufacturing unexpectedly accelerated in November at thefastest pace in more than two years, retail spending fell on theweekend after Thanksgiving for the first time since 2009.

“The path of least resistance appears to be lower forgold,” Howard Wen, an analyst at HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.,wrote in a note. “The gold market may focus on the upcomingrelease of U.S. payrolls data. A better-than-expected employmentreport may increase expectations of a Fed tapering announcementfrom that meeting and thus weigh on gold prices.”

Gold for February delivery traded at $1,223.40 an ounce onthe Comex in New York from $1,221.90 yesterday, when pricesslumped 2.3 percent. Trading volume was 3.5 percent below theaverage for the past 100 days at this time of day, data compiledby Bloomberg showed.

Payroll Gain

Data this week may show that the U.S. is on track for thebiggest annual gain in payrolls since 2005 before the Fed’s nextgathering Dec. 17-18. Minutes of the last meeting released onNov. 20 signaled that policy makers expected an improvingeconomy to warrant trimming debt purchases in coming months.

Spot silver rose as much as 0.8 percent to $19.3215 anounce, before trading at $19.3065. The worst-performing preciousmetal this year plunged 4.2 percent yesterday, the most sinceSept. 20, and is down 36 percent in 2013.

One ounce of gold bought as much as 63.9395 ounces ofsilver today, the most since Aug. 12, as investors lost faith ina metal that’s a store of value and tied to economic growth.

Platinum climbed 0.5 percent to $1,350.50 an ounce, afterdeclining to $1,340.15, the lowest since July 8. Palladium added0.4 percent to $713.63 an ounce, snapping two days of losses.