Gold gains favour as oil tumbles

New York

GOLD'S relationship to oil has been turned on its head.

Investors who saw little value in the metal last month, as plunging energy costs curbed inflation, have started buying in January even as crude continues to tumble. Bullion is off to its best start to a year since 1980, while West Texas Intermediate is trading near the lowest since April 2009. The correlation between the two commodities that reached a 16-month high in December is now the weakest in five months.

The about-face reflects an investor shift in focus away from the benefits of cheap fuel to the risk of econ…