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Gold hits record as shares rise

Business Materials 25 January 2008 13:18 (UTC +04:00)

( dpa ) - European shares pushed forward again in early trading Friday after a torrid trading week as gold hit an all-time high.

With Wall Street closing in positive territory Thursday and a solid rise in stocks across Asia, Europe's blue-chip Stoxx 50 index climbed 1.6 per cent to 3311 points in opening trade Friday.

Signs of a measure of calm returning to global stock markets followed a tumultuous week in share trading with stocks in Europe on Monday chalking up their biggest one-day fall since the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.

The rout on the world's bourses came in the wake of fears that the US subprime mortgage market crisis could tip the giant US economy into recession fears.

At the same time, the prospects of the US Federal Reserve following up the hefty rate cut it delivered this week with another reduction in borrowing costs next week helped to drive up to the price of gold to an all-time high of nearly 920 dollars an ounce.

Oil also nudged up in early European trading to 90 dollars a barrel.

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