* Spot gold extends late Thursday gains to $912.75
* U.S. futures jump 4 percent in electronic trade
* Nikkei plunges nearly 10 percent, oil hits 1-year low
(Updates prices, adds quotes)
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Spot gold rose to an over
two-month high on Friday while U.S. futures jumped nearly 4
percent, adding to the previous day's late rally as investors
scrambled for safety after heavy losses in equity markets.
The month-old financial crisis doled out more punishment,
with Japan's Nikkei <> tumbling almost 10 percent, its
biggest one-day loss since the 1987 stock market crash, on
fears that a global recession was now unavoidable.
The U.S. government is weighing guaranteeing billions of
dollars in bank debt and temporarily insuring all U.S. bank
deposits to unfreeze bank lending and staunch massive losses in
equity markets, The Wall Street Journal said. []
Spot gold <XAU=> rose $1.25 or 0.14 percent to $912.75 an
ounce from New York's notional 2115 GMT close, its fifth day of
gains, at one point hitting $925.05, its highest since July 31.
It is now just 11 percent off its all-time peak of $1,030.80 in
March.
Physical selling capped gains and gold could trade in a
volatile $850 to $950 range in the next few days, but bullion
could also regain $1,000 due to uncertainties in the financial
markets, said Ronald Leung, director of Lee Cheong Gold Dealers
in Hong Kong.
"We heard there's some selling from Thailand. Investors buy
at the lows and sell at the highs, and of course the dollar is
strengthening. We can say it's very choppy," said Leung.
The gold futures contract for December delivery <GCZ8> on
the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, which
missed out much of Thursday's late rally as the U.S. Dow
collapsed by 7.3 percent in an avalanche of selling at the
close, rallied to a high of $931.3 an ounce before easing back
to $917.2 an ounce.
Although the financial turmoil has intensified over the
past month, the U.S. dollar has risen against the euro as
investors fear the U.S. woes will spread quickly to the rest of
the world, tempering the gains for bullion, traders say.
But demand from individual investors remains robust, with
holdings by the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded
fund, the SPDR Gold Trust <GLD>, rising by nearly two tonnes to
another record at 765.74 tonnes as of Thursday.
For details on SPDR holdings, click on:
http://www.exchangetradedgold.com/iframes/usa.php
"Investors only concentrate on gold. Stock prices and other
commodities are not so good," said Yukuji Sonoda, precious
metals analyst at Daiichi Commodities in Tokyo, adding that an
increase in ETF holdings showed growing interest from
investors.
Oil <CLc1> fell 5 percent to a one-year low as fears that
market turmoil will send demand for fuel slumping outweighed
news that OPEC will hold an emergency meeting in November.
[]
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks excluding Japan
<.MIAPJ0000PUS> fell 7.7 percent to its lowest since January
2005, and has slipped 21 percent this week alone. []
The market plunge came as leaders from Group of Seven
powers huddled in Washington to mull other joint measures to
try and stop the panic in markets. []
Platinum <XPT=> was trading at $997.50 ounce, down $21.00
an ounce from New York's notional close, having hit a 1-week
high of $1,026.50 on Wednesday, partly driven by recent gains
in gold.
Precious metals prices at 0620 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg
Turnover
Spot Gold 912.75 1.25 +0.14 9.61
Spot Silver 12.03 0.02 +0.17 -18.55
Spot Platinum 997.50 -21.00 -2.06 -34.38
Spot Palladium 198.00 0.00 +0.00 -46.20
TOCOM Gold 2872.00 -11.00 -0.38 -6.14
37574
TOCOM Platinum 3168.00 -89.00 -2.73 -40.66
13671
TOCOM Silver 377.00 2.50 +0.67 -30.31
957
TOCOM Palladium 645.00 -15.00 -2.27 -52.26
458
Euro/Dollar 1.3535
Dollar/Yen 98.62
TOCOM prices in yen per gram, except TOCOM silver which is
priced in yen per 10 grams. Spot prices in $ per ounce.
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda in Tokyo; Editing by
Michael Urquhart)
