Gold, little changed, may advance for a fifth day, heading for a 10th annual gain, as investors sought to preserve their wealth against inflation and depreciating currencies. Silver touched a 30-year high. Bullion for immediate delivery rose as much as 0.2 percent to $1,414.10 an ounce, and traded at $1,412.75 at 1:23 p.m. in Seoul. Gold reached a record $1,431.25 an ounce on Dec. 7 and has jumped 29 percent this year. Immediate-delivery silver gained as much as 0.4 percent to $30.7275 an ounce, the highest level since March 1980, and last traded at $30.7225 “Gold will continue to do well as inflationary pressures build on rising commodity prices,” said Liu Yangyi, a trader at Beijing Zhong Jing He Investment. “There’s no ‘safe’ currency at the moment so investors choose to park their money in gold.” The Dollar Index fell for a second day, dropping to near a two-week low against a basket of six major currencies, on speculation the global recovery is gathering pace. A South Korean report showed industrial production expanded for a 17th consecutive month, adding to signs that Asian economies are picking up. The greenback typically moves inversely to precious metals. Spot silver has surged 82 percent this year, outperforming gold. Silver assets held through exchange-traded products, or ETPs, were unchanged at 15,062.40 metric tons yesterday, data from four providers show. Holdings reached 15,172 tons on Dec. 17, the highest level since at least February. China issued its first batch of 2011 silver export quotas at 3,405 metric tons, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its website, without giving a comparative figure for this year. Platinum for immediate delivery was little changed at $1,758.35 an ounce and palladium fell 0.2 percent to $791.05 an ounce. To contact the reporters on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net Sungwoo Park in Seoul at spark47@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Richard Dobson at rdobson4@bloomberg.net

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