* Euro, stocks, commods sold after Moody's Portugal comments
* Haven buying underpins gold as Greek debt woes persist
* Silver, platinum, palladium tumble
(Recasts, updates prices)
By Jan Harvey and Michael Taylor
LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Gold rebounded from one-week lows
on Wednesday, as safe-haven buying returned after a sell-off in
commodities and other assets as the euro fell versus the dollar
on fears euro zone debt problems will spread.
Stocks fell, the cost of insuring Portuguese government debt
against default rose to a record high, and Bund futures hit
their highest since early March 2009 after Moody's said Portugal
was on review for a possible downgrade. []
Spot gold was bid at $1,171.75 an ounce at 1510 GMT against
$1,170.65 late in New York on Tuesday. U.S. gold futures for
June delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile
Exchange were at $1,172.40 an ounce.
"Gold is actually holding up remarkably well in the face of
what is a very strong dollar move against the euro," said RBS
analyst Daniel Major. "The market as a whole is running scared,
and it is safe-haven buying that is supporting gold."
"We had combined weekly net inflows of about $870 million
into gold funds in the final week of April, which is akin to the
levels we saw in the first quarter of 2009 when gold was
behaving in a very similar fashion in terms of safe-haven
buying."
Platinum group metals slipped sharply, with palladium
shedding more than 6 percent at its low, while oil fell 2
percent and base metals tumbled. In contrast, gold has held its
ground relatively well, analysts said. [] []
The euro <EUR=> fell below $1.29 on Wednesday for the first
time in more than a year and rattled bond markets in Portugal
and Spain. []
The single currency was hit by fears Greece's debt issues
will spread. European Central Bank governing council member Axel
Weber said on Wednesday there was a serious threat of Greece's
problems spilling over to other parts of the euro zone.
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SAFE-HAVEN BUYING
These same worries are fuelling safe-haven buying of gold.
"We think the flight to safety will continue, and we expect
to see more inflows into physical gold products like exchange
traded funds," said Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann.
"We have seen record highs in euros, Swiss francs and
sterling in the last few days and it should only be a matter of
time before gold reaches new record highs in dollars as well."
Gold touched a dollar high of $1,226.10 last December.
Investment interest held firm, with holdings of the world's
largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold
Trust, still at a record high on Tuesday.
Risk aversion battered other markets, with European shares
falling and U.S. stocks sliding at the open as concern over
Greece's sovereign debt crisis and its potential to spread
overshadowed data showing U.S. jobs growth. [] []
The more industrial precious metals, silver, platinum and
palladium, slipped sharply in line with losses in other
commodities.
Palladium <XPD=> fell more than 6 percent to its session low
of $480 an ounce, its weakest level since Apr. 1, and was later
bid at $502.50 against $515.50.
Platinum <XPT=> hit its weakest since Mar. 31 at $1,618.50
and was later at $1,642.50 an ounce versus $1,668.50. Silver
<XAG=> fell to its lowest since late March at $17.05, and was
later at $17.43 an ounce against $17.84.
(Additional reporting by Pratima Desai; editing by Sue Thomas)
