Gold, set for a 10th consecutive annual gain, may advance as investors seek a protection of wealth and alternative to currencies, a survey found. Eighteen of 22 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 82 percent, said the metal will rise next week. Two predicted lower prices and two were neutral. Gold for February delivery was up 1.9 percent for this week at $1,407.20 an ounce at 10:34 a.m. yesterday on the Comex in New York. Futures gained for the first week in three last week and were heading for a 28 percent gain this year by yesterday. Prices reached a record $1,432.50 on Dec. 7 as investors sought an alternative to currencies amid government asset purchases and concerns about government debts in Ireland, Spain and Greece. “Gold’s short-term trend has turned upwards after last week’s higher close” and an increase this week is “important technically,” said Mark O’Byrne, executive director of brokerage GoldCore Ltd. in Dublin. Demand for wealth preservation is “set to continue due to concerns about sovereign debt, the fragile economic recovery and growing inflation pressures in China and internationally,” he said. The attached chart tracks the results of the Bloomberg survey, with the red bars derived by subtracting bearish forecasts from bullish estimates. Readings below zero signal that most respondents expect a decline. The green line shows the gold price. The data are as of Dec. 24. The weekly gold survey that started six years ago has forecast prices accurately in 195 of 343 weeks, or 57 percent of the time. This week’s survey results: Bullish: 18 Bearish: 2 Neutral: 2 To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Larkin in London at nlarkin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.

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