* Gold gains for fourth straight month, hits 2-1/2 wk high
* Euro-priced gold hits record high of 1,067.93 euros/oz
* Euro tumbles, European stocks wilt as risk aversion flares
(Updates prices, adds comment, detail)
By Elizabeth Fullerton and Jan Harvey
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Gold rallied over 1 percent to a
2-1/2 week peak on Tuesday and euro-priced bullion set a fresh
record high as concern over sovereign debt levels in the euro
zone fuelled buying of the metal as a safe store of value.
A weekend rescue package for Ireland failed to assuage
investor jitters over the spread of debt problems in the euro
zone, analysts said.
Spot gold <XAU=> was trading at $1,385.50 an ounce at 1643
GMT against $1,368.09 late in New York on Monday, having earlier
touched a session high of $1,385.95. U.S. gold futures for
December delivery <GCZ0> rose $20.70 an ounce to $1,386.70.
"Even the strong U.S. dollar could not push gold in dollar
terms lower," said Eugen Weinberg, an analyst at Commerzbank.
"This suggests that the U.S. dollar is not perceived as the
primary safe haven right now, but rather gold."
Spot gold was heading for a fourth consecutive month of
gains, matching a similar winning run from November 2008.
Bullion is up around 26.4 percent in the year to date.
The euro <EUR=> hit an 11-week low against the dollar on
Tuesday on persistent concerns over the euro zone debt crisis. A
stronger dollar would usually weigh on gold, but in times of
extreme risk aversion both can benefit. []
Spanish and Italian government bond yields hit euro lifetime
highs on Tuesday after an 85 billion Irish rescue deal failed to
quell concerns about peripheral debt. []
European shares fell on persistent worries over the
financial health of the euro zone periphery, but recovered
somewhat on better-than-expected U.S. consumer confidence data.
Markets are already discounting an eventual rescue of Portugal,
although the government denies it needs outside aid. []
Earlier the iTraxx SovX index of Western European credit
default swap prices rose to an all-time high as the cost of
protecting euro zone sovereign debt against default surged.
[]
"Credit markets dismissed news of a definite bailout for
Dublin, with the broader market still reluctant to turn positive
on the monetary union," said VTB Capital in a note.
"Credit default swaps and sovereign yields spreads against
the benchmark Bund have widened significantly in the past week,
still near fresh highs for most peripheral member states in the
euro zone."
PHYSICAL DEMAND
Euro-priced gold <XAUEUR=R> jumped some 2 percent to a fresh
record at 1,067.93 euros an ounce and was on track for its
biggest monthly gain since May -- up 9 percent -- when concerns
over Portugal's financial health first battered the markets.
Gold priced in euros was later at 1,061.74 euros an ounce.
Physical buying in Asia remained supportive of gold prices.
The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR
Gold Trust <GLD>, said its holdings rose to 1,286.603 tonnes by
Nov. 29 from 1,285.084 tonnes on Nov. 22. []
The International Monetary Fund has slowed the rate of
selling its gold by 40 percent in October from the previous
month, as interest among central banks to own the metal as a
hedge against economic uncertainty rose. []
Among other precious metals, silver <XAG=> was up 3.5
percent at $28.07 an ounce against $27.12, 14 percent higher on
the month, and palladium <XPD=> was on track for its fifth
straight monthly rise, up 7.9 percent on the month at $695.97.
Platinum <XPT=> was up 0.87 percent at $1,657.49 an ounce.
On a monthly basis, it bucked the overall positive trend in the
complex, heading for a more than 2 percent drop, its first
monthly decline since August.
(Editing by Jane Baird)
