European investors are increasing purchases of gold as Greece'sturmoil boosts the appeal for an alternative to the euro.

Demand from Greek customers for Sovereign gold coins was doublethe five-month average in June, the U.K. Royal Mint said in anemailed statement. CoinInvest.com, an online retailer, said saleson Saturday and Sunday were the highest since Cyprus limited cashwithdrawals in 2013, driven by a jump in German, French, and Greekbuyers.

Investors are searching for a safe haven after Greece imposedcapital controls, closed banks and stopped selling gold coins tothe public until at least July 6. German Chancellor Angela Merkeland French President Francois Hollande have signaled they'vereached the limits of their ability to safeguard Greece, offeringthe government no further concessions to step back from thebrink.

“Most of our common gold coins are sold out,” Daniel Marburger,a director of Frankfurt-based CoinInvest.com, said by phone. “Whenpeople learned that the Greek banks will be closed, they started tothink that it may not be such a bad idea to have some money ingold.”

Gold futures climbed 0.4 percent, to $1,177.90 an ounce, by11:10 a.m. on the Comex in New York. The metal is little changedfor the year.

GoldCore Ltd., which buys and sells bullion, reported coin andbar demand rose “significantly” on Monday. Sales to U.K. andIreland today are about three times the average level for the pastthree Mondays, the Dublin-based firm said in an emailed statement.The U.S. Mint sold 61,500 ounces of American Eagle gold coins thismonth, the most since January, its website showed.

BullionVault, which says it operates the largest online physicalgold trading platform, reported a jump in sales during the firsthalf of this year, a sign of a broader increase.

Customers globally added 1.4 metric tons of gold to theiraccount, the biggest increase since 2012, the London-based companywrote in a press release. More clients want their gold stored inSwitzerland, a country that isn't in the European Union (EU),Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault, said bytelephone.

–With assistance from Debarati Roy in New York.

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