Gold may advance on speculation accelerating costs will boost demand for the precious metal as a hedge against inflation, a survey found. Eleven of 15 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 73 percent, said the metal will rise next week. Three predicted lower prices and one was neutral. Gold for April delivery was up 1.5 percent for this week at $1,380.90 an ounce at 10 a.m. yesterday on the Comex in New York. Consumer costs in the U.S. gained for a seventh straight month in January and the U.K. consumer price index rose to a 26- month high. Oil traded near the highest in two years, cotton topped $2 a pound for the first time ever and copper rose to a record this week. “Rising commodity prices are the symptoms of a dollar debasement strategy and in no way can bring down the rate of inflation,” said Michael Pento, a senior economist at Euro Pacific Capital in New York. 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 Feb. 11. The weekly gold survey that started six years ago has forecast prices accurately in 199 of 350 weeks, or 57 percent of the time. This week’s survey results: Bullish: 11 Bearish: 3 Neutral: 1 To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.

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