- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
Gold hits record high, oil prices slide
Gold hit a record high on Friday as global stock markets diverged, with profit-taking on Wall Street while European and Asian markets gained on reassuring data about the health of the world's biggest economy and likely US interest rate cuts.
Expectations of US interest rate cuts weakened the dollar, while oil prices tumbled as weak Chinese demand expectations offset turmoil in the Middle East, according to traders.
Gold rose to a record high of $2,500.16 an ounce as investors snapped up the haven investment in the face of an increasingly likely US interest rate cut in September and heightened geopolitical risks.
"The sharp drop in bond yields amid expectations of rate cuts by the Fed" have pushed gold prices higher, said City Index and FOREX.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.
Wall Street's major indices pulled back after rallying on Thursday following stronger-than-expected retail sales data that dispelled fears that the US economy is heading for a recession.
The blue-chip Dow slipped 0.2 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.3 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent.
"These aren't big moves at all relative to the gains that have preceded them, yet buyers aren't rushing in to buy the dip just yet knowing the market has come a long way in a short amount of time," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.
He noted that the S&P 500 is up more than eight percent from its August 5 low and the Nasdaq Composite has gained 12 percent.
"Concerns about the stock market being in a short-term overbought state have meshed with some weak housing starts and building permits data for July, and some attention-grabbing strengthening in the yen, to temper the conviction on the part of buyers," he added.
Weak US jobs data and a Japanese interest rate hike double-whammied stock markets at the beginning of the month, as investors who had financed investments in red-hot US tech shares by borrowing in weak yen faced the prospect of immense losses as the value of the Japanese unit bounded higher.
"The worry is that further strengthening in the yen could trigger another unwinding episode" of the so-called yen carry-trade, O'Hare added.
In Asian trading, the Nikkei 225 jumped 3.6 percent as the yen was lower against the dollar early in the day.
London was a rare faller among stock markets as a strengthening pound weighed on multinationals earning in dollars.
On the corporate front, shares in German chemicals giant Bayer jumped 10.7 percent in afternoon trading after a US court victory in the group's long-running fight against claims that its glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer.
- Oil slumps -
Oil prices slumped around 1.5 percent, with Brent North Sea crude falling under $80 per barrel.
"The significant price recovery on the oil market has run out of steam in recent days," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
"For one thing, the feared retaliatory strike by Iran (on Israel) has so far failed to materialise, which has probably favoured a partial pricing out of the risk premium. In addition, new demand concerns are weighing on the market."
Major oil producer Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel for last month's killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
- Key figures around 1330 GMT -
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 40,502.13 points
New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.3 percent at 5,525.71
New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN 0.5 percent at 17,507.74
London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.6 percent at 8,301.82
Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 7,434.24
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.5 percent at 18,277.46
EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 4,827.29
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 3.6 percent at 38,062.67 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.9 percent at 17,430.16 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 2,879.43 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1000 from $1.0972 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2901 from $1.2853
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.76 yen from 149.06 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.26 pence from 85.36 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.6 percent at $76.88 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 1.5 percent at $79.84 per barrel
burs-rl/rlp/kjm
A.Mahlangu--AMWN