* Gold at new record as dollar struggles
* Stocks up, emerging shares at year high
* Alco earnings lift hopes for Q3 results season
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Gold hit a fresh record high on
Thursday as the dollar struggled, while emerging market stocks
climbed to their highest level this year.
European shares opened more than 1 percent higher ahead of
interest rate decisions from the Bank of England and European
Central Bank.
Neither was expected to change rates.
Market sentiment was also given a boost after aluminium
giant Alcoa <AA.N> posted a surprise profit on Wednesday after
three consecutive quarterly losses. []
The company is the first major report in the U.S.
third-quarter earnings season.
Spot gold <XAU=> topped $1,058 per ounce to mark a record
high for the third session in a row. It has primarily been
driven higher by the weakening dollar, which makes the
dollar-denominated metal more attractive to investors.
In some currencies -- the high-flying Australian dollar, for
example -- gold has actually fallen in price this year.
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For a graphic on this, click http://r.reuters.com/fex62f.
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"Investors are turning towards gold as a hedge in dollar
weakness," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Phillip Futures in
Singapore.
The dollar was down 0.7 percent against a basket of major
currencies <.DXY=>, close to its year lows.
The currency has been hit by a combination of expectations
that U.S. interest rates will stay low for some time and a
belief that the global economy is on the mend, easing the
motivation behind last year's flight to dollar safety.
The euro was up 0.6 percent at $1.4773 <EUR=> and the dollar
lost a third of a percent to 88.32 yen <JPY=>.
The Australian dollar <AUD=> gained 1.4 percent, still
benefiting from this week's rate hike. It has now gained nearly
28 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.
STOCKS BUOYANT
World stocks were putting in another positive performance,
with MSCI's all-country world index <.MIWD00000PUS> up 0.8
percent on the day. Its emerging market counterpart <.MSCIEF>
was up the same amount at a new high for the year.
The two indexes have gained around 27 percent and 65
percent, respectively, this year.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <> was up 1.1
percent, boosted in part by commodity related stocks and bullish
sentiment over the Alcoa earnings.
"Alcoa had better than anticipated results, which is good.
It is now all about anticipating quarter-three earnings. There
is a general sense that quarter-three earnings are going to be
more positive than expectations," said Bernard McAlinden, market
strategist at NCB Stockbrokers.
Earlier, Japan's Nikkei <> closed up 0.3 percent.
Demand for short-dated euro zone debt slipped with the
Schatz yield <EU10YT=RR> at 1.27 percent.
(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson, editing by Mike
Peacock)
