* Crude prices at 30-month highs on fear unrest may spread
* Global stocks fall as oil concerns prompt growth worries
* Dollar, Swiss franc gain as tensions in Libya escalate
* Government debt prices gain on safe-haven buying
(Adds fresh prices, news on Libya, quotes)
By Herbert Lash
NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - World stocks fell on Tuesday
as a growing revolt in Libya drove oil prices to 30-month
highs, prompting fears the unrest could spread to other major
oil suppliers in the region and disrupt global growth.
Crude prices surged in New York and London, where prices
for North Sea Brent <LCOc1> touched $108.57 a barrel before
paring some gains, as concerns about oil supplies cooled the
appetite for assets perceived as risky. For details see:
[]
In Libya, rebel soldiers said the eastern region of the
country had broken free from Muammar Gaddafi, who witnesses
said was using tanks, warplanes and mercenaries to fight a
growing uprising against his rule. []
Sporadic blasts could be heard in the eastern city of
Tobruk, a Reuters correspondent there said, the latest sign
that Gaddafi's 41-year grip on the oil- and gas-exporting
nation was weakening.
Libya only ranks third in Africa after Nigeria and Angola
in oil production, but investors are concerned about the
potential spread of violence in North Africa and the Middle
East, and how that might disrupt the region's oil supply.
"Continued trouble in the Middle East dominates market
movement. Escalating concerns in Libya and a violent crackdown
on demonstrations in Bahrain pushed the equity markets lower in
Europe and bonds higher," said John Shin, FX strategist at Bank
of America Merrill Lynch in New York.
Global stocks, as measured by MSCI's all-country world
index <.MIWD00000PUS>, pared some losses and were down 0.7
percent, and Wall Street also pared some of its early losses.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> was down 53.96
points, or 0.44 percent, at 12,337.29. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index <.SPX> was down 9.69 points, or 0.72 percent, at
1,333.32. The Nasdaq Composite Index <> was down 31.47
points, or 1.11 percent, at 2,802.48.
The euro rose versus the dollar as hawkish comments from a
European Central Bank official helped it pare earlier steep
losses as escalating tensions in Libya prompted investors to
seek safer assets. []
The euro <EUR=> was up 0.15 percent at $1.3695, and against
the Japanese yen, the dollar <JPY=> was down 0.07 percent at
83.05.
U.S. crude prices jumped, in part because electronic
trading of the contract occurred on Monday, but there was no
settlement close as the exchange in New York was closed for the
Presidents Day holiday.
U.S. light sweet crude oil <CLc1> rose $4.57 to $90.77 a
barrel.
Shorter-dated German bond yields rose to their highest in
about two weeks, and U.S. Treasury prices also gained.
[]
The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note <US10YT=RR> was up
19/32 in price to yield 3.51 percent.
Gold prices slipped but remained above $1,400 an ounce as
the dollar surrendered its earlier 1 percent gains versus the
euro, with violence in Libya fueling interest in the metal as a
haven from risk. []
Spot gold prices <XAU=> fell $4.57 to $1,401.00 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Claire Milhench, Tricia Wright, Brian
Gorman, Marius Zaharia, Rebekah Curtis, Jan Harvey and Amanda
Cooper Jessica Mortimer in London; Writing by Herbert Lash,
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
