Gold scaled a record high on a weak dollar and global stocks jumped on Monday after better-than-expected U.S. home sales data and rosy economic news in the euro zone bolstered appetite for riskier assets.

The Dow surged to a 52-week high before paring gains as a rally on Wall Street reversed most of the losses from a three-day sell-off last week.

Gold hit a record $1,173.50 an ounce as the slumping U.S. dollar boosted gold purchases as a hedge against depreciation of paper currencies and future inflation.

Oil prices neared $80 a barrel, before paring gains to settle up 9 cents at $77.56 a barrel, boosted by the sagging dollar and signs of buoyant demand from China, the world's second-largest energy consumer.

The dollar slid after a Federal Reserve official affirmed expectations that U.S. interest rates would stay low for some time and data showing that sales of previously owned U.S. home rose to a more than 2-1/2-year high dampened the currency's safe-haven appeal.

Sales of previously owned U.S. homes jumped in October from the previous month a record 10.1 percent, as buyers rushed to take advantage of a popular tax credit for first-time buyers that had been scheduled to end in November, the National Association of Realtors said.

The great bulk of the evidence says there's definitely been a recovery going on in housing and today certainly adds to that, said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 132.71 points, or 1.29 percent, to 10,450.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 14.85 points, or 1.36 percent, to 1,106.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 29.97 points, or 1.40 percent, to 2,176.01.

Advancing shares outpaced decliners by more than three-to-one on the New York Stock Exchange, and 188 shares -- of 3,114 traded -- hit 52-week highs. NYSE volume, however, was a little more than half the daily average.

European shares also surged, posting their biggest one-day percentage gain in more than five weeks.

The FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top European shares rose 2.1 percent to close at 1,023.49 points.

The euro zone's dominant service sector grew at its fastest pace in two years in November, suggesting a recovery will continue in the fourth quarter, albeit at a slower rate, a key survey showed.

U.S. Treasury debt prices were little changed as investors poured into riskier assets, and after a decent reception for $44 billion of two-year notes.

Despite $118 billion of new Treasuries hitting the market this week and rising stock prices, demand for the safety of U.S. government debt has limited losses as traders seek to lock in gains for the year.

This is an indication of the wall of cash that's being put to work in all asset classes, including the front end of the Treasury curve, said Michael Pond, a Treasury strategist at Barclays Capital.

We do think that yields should have gone higher given what equities and the data did but we recognize there's just a slew of cash in the market, Pond said.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard on Sunday said the U.S. central bank should keep alive its mortgage-related assets purchase program beyond a planned end date to help stimulate the economy.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was up 3/32 in price to yield 3.36 percent. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note was down 1/32 in price to yield 0.74 percent.

U.S. crude settled higher at $77.56 a barrel, as concerns about weak demand and high inventories pushed crude off earlier highs of $79.92 a barrel. London Brent crude rose 26 cents to settle at $77.46 a barrel.

U.S. light sweet crude oil rose 62 cents to $78.09 a barrel.

The dollar was down against a basket of major currencies, with the U.S. Dollar Index <.DXY> down 0.71 percent at 75.116.

The euro was up 0.71 percent at $1.4966, and against the yen, the dollar was up 0.06 percent at 88.96.

Spot gold prices rose $15.30 to $1164.80 an ounce.

The precious metal has rallied to a series of record highs since news that India bought 200 tons of gold from the International Monetary Fund broke in early November. Since then a number of other central banks have announced they are buying gold as well.

Gold has a lot of momentum. It is trading off the back of the dollar, and at the moment it seems to be outperforming that trade, as are a lot of other commodities, said Daniel Major, an analyst at RBS Global Banking & Markets.

MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside of Japan <.MSCIAPJ> rose 0.7 percent after Asian markets closed, and then rose further, up 1.1 percent after midday in New York. The Nikkei Index <.N225> in Tokyo, however, fell 0.5 percent.

(Reporting by Ed Krudy, Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Emily Flitter and Frank Tang in New York; Ian Chua, David Sheppard, Brian Gorman and Jan Harvey in London; writing by Herbert Lash; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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