* Gold rises for fourth straight day on oil, euro
* Oil up more than $2, lifting gold
* Nikkei climbs nearly 4 pct on bargain hunting
(Updates prices, adds comments from Newcrest)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Gold rose for a fourth
straight day on Thursday, rising 2 percent at one point, as oil
extended gains and the dollar fell against the euro, which
stirred hopes bullion could eventually regain $800 on
safe-haven buying.
Other precious metals tracked gold higher, with firmer
equities also helping prices move away from their multi-year
lows. The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a
percentage point on Wednesday, sending the U.S. dollar
tumbling.
Gold <XAU=> was trading at $763.30 an ounce, up $9 an ounce
from New York's notional close on Wednesday, when it hit an
intraday high of $773.40 an ounce.
"I think all the preconditions are there for gold to take a
very healthy run. The physical demand for gold has actually
exceeded the ability to supply right around the world," Ian
Smith, managing director of Newcrest Mining Ltd <NCM.AX>, told
reporters in Melbourne.
Newcrest is Australia's largest gold producer.
Gold plummeted to its weakest in 13 months at $680.80 on
Friday after investors cashed in to cover losses in stock
markets. It has bounced on strong oil, a recovery in equities,
a firmer euro and tightness in physical gold supply after a
recent drop in prices triggered buying from jewellers and
investors.
"My view is that we're likely to see the gold price
continue to move higher in the near term," said David Moore,
commodities analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in
Sydney.
"I mean it'll probably follow a fairly uneven path but the
underlying trend is for gold to be back above $800 an ounce by
the end of this year," he said.
Gold, which traded around $800 earlier this month, was
still below a record high of $1,030.80 hit in March after a
rally to a two-month high of $931 on Oct. 10 was met by heavy
selling.
Oil <CLc1> rose more than $2 to above $69.50 barrel due to
the dollar weakness after the Fed cut interest rates, which in
theory boosts gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. []
The euro <EUR=> rose against the dollar, recovering from a
2-1/2-year low hit this week, as the oil rally spurred
investors to pick up currencies battered during a rapid slide
in recent months from record highs near $150 in mid-July.
[]
"The dollar seems to be on the downside and that helps
gold. But I would say gold will still be trading in a very wide
range of $700 to $800 an ounce," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
Japan's Nikkei average climbed more than 6 percent on
bargain hunting [].
Two of the world's leading gold miners reported big drops
in quarterly earnings on Wednesday as soaring costs for fuel
and raw materials ate into margins already narrowed by a
slumping gold price. []
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $821.50 ounce, up $28.00
from New York's notional close.
New York gold futures <GCZ8> added $9.9 an ounce to
$763.9.
Precious metals prices at 0356 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 763.30 9.00 +1.19 -8.33
Spot Silver 10.10 0.28 +2.85 -31.62
Spot Platinum 821.50 28.00 +3.53 -45.95
Spot Palladium 197.50 3.00 +1.54 -46.33
TOCOM Gold 2416.00 80.00 +3.42 -21.05
43478
TOCOM Platinum 2625.00 141.00 +5.68 -50.83
11993
TOCOM Silver 316.00 30.70 +10.76 -41.59
984
TOCOM Palladium 650.00 65.00 +11.11 -51.89
437
Euro/Dollar 1.3214
Dollar/Yen 98.23
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additinal reporting by Simone Giuliani; Editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
