IBT Staff Reporter

Gold prices extended gains in Asian trade Thursday mainly on increased physical buying, a firmer euro against the dollar and also on rising stocks. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $ 1204.48 an ounce at 12.00 noon Singapore time after dropped as low as $1185 on Wednesday.

Oil jumped to a one-week high above $75 on Thursday after earnings euphoria injected positive sentiment into Asian equities, reinforcing overnight gains triggered by an industry report showing U.S. crude inventories plunged last week.

Gold rose to hold above $1,200 an ounce on Thursday on steady purchases from jewelers and other physical buyers after a recent drop to a six-week low, while sentiment was also lifted by gains in equities markets.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks were set for their best gains in over two weeks on Thursday after a bullish company forecast fuelled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned a slow return by investors to riskier assets.

The euro pushed to a two-month high against the dollar on Thursday as short-covering kicked in after strong Australian jobs data sent the Aussie dollar up and helped gains in other currencies against the greenback and yen.

BP is aiming to plug its leaking Gulf of Mexico well by July 27, weeks sooner than forecast, according to a newspaper report on Thursday, while a battle between the U.S. government and the oil industry over a deepwater drilling ban heads to court.

The Obama administration heads to court on Thursday with a single goal -- to reinstate a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling imposed in response to the BP Plc oil spill but blocked by a federal judge.

BP boss Tony Hayward met with an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday, part of a quest for cash to ward off takeovers and help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Besieged energy giant BP Plc aims to fix its leaking Gulf oil well by July 27, ahead of its earlier target of mid-August, to show investors it has limited its burgeoning oil spill liabilities, the Wall Street Journal said, citing company officials.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks were set for their best gains in over two weeks on Thursday after a bullish company forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned a slow return by investors to riskier assets.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks climbed to their highest in more than a week on Thursday after a bullish forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned growing tolerance for risk.

The euro surged to a two-month high and Asian stocks climbed to their highest in more than a week on Thursday after a bullish forecast fueled optimism about the coming U.S. earnings season and underpinned growing tolerance for risk.

BP boss Tony Hayward met with an Abu Dhabi state investment fund on Wednesday, part of a quest for cash to ward off takeovers and help pay for the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Obama administration will keep tax rates at levels that benefit job-creating businesses and limit taxes on capital gains and dividends, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.

The government is launching a program nicknamed Perfect Citizen to detect cyber assaults on private U.S. companies and government agencies running critical infrastructure such as the electricity grid and nuclear power plants, the Wall Street Journal said in its online edition, citing people familiar with the program.

The oil drilling industry goes head-to-head with the Obama administration in court on Thursday over the White House effort to suspend deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico for six months in the wake of the catastrophic BP Plc well blowout.

The Australian dollar has received another boost overnight after an improvement in investor risk appetite.

American scientists have stumbled on a technique to restore the motor skills of Parkinson's sufferers by lighting genetically created pathways in the brain that control body movement.

An eye expert from the University of Sydney's Vision Centre said Wednesday that watching 3D TV for a few hours each day will not damage the eyes nor affect one's depth of perception.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co is suing a former financial adviser who defected to Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and has already transferred $30 million of client assets to his new company, according to documents filed in the New York Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Traders were content to play the ranges between 0.8470 and 0.8510 during yesterday's domestic session in light of the sharp rally above US85 cents the previous day.

Asset management and custody firm State Street Corp said on Tuesday that quarterly operating earnings would easily top Wall Street forecasts, sending its shares up nearly 10 percent and boosting the broader market.

Europe listed 91 banks taking part in financial stress tests -- including many regional banks where markets suspect most of the sore spots are -- as it seeks to restore confidence in the sector.

Greek lawmakers agreed in principle on an overhaul of the country's ailing pension system in a preliminary vote on Wednesday, in a sign that a reform key to restoring the country's ailing finances is likely to pass.

The top U.S. securities regulator wants more feedback on its nearly year-old proposal to ban flash orders, and has asked additional questions about the wisdom of the ban in the options market.

U.S. stocks logged their best one-day gain in about six weeks on Wednesday after a bullish forecast from financial company State Street Corp fueled optimism about the coming earnings season and helped the S&P 500 break above a major resistance level.

A government program to bail out banks at the height of the financial crisis has so far turned a profit, according to a report by investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

Hollywood directors Ridley Scott and Kevin Macdonald will pull together video from YouTube users for a documentary that captures for future generations the global community in one day, YouTube said on Wednesday.

Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley have generated billions of dollars of revenue from fixed income trading over the last year, but that profit engine may have sputtered in the second quarter as bond markets grew turbulent.