GLOBAL MARKETS-Credit fears hit stocks, as gold tops $1,000

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By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, March 13 (Reuters) - Gold shot past $1,000 for the first time and the dollar tumbled to a new low on Thursday as credit concerns rumbled through financial markets again, pushing global stocks into the loss column in volatile dealings.

After opening down sharply on concerns of a major hedge fund default caused by subprime loan losses, shares in Europe and the United States recovered from their lows.

The markets managed to rebound after Standard & Poor's issued a report that major banks have seen the worst of the housing finance charges. U.S. Treasury prices fell on the news as flight-to-quality investors pulled back.

Oil rose to a fresh record high for a seventh straight trading day as a weak dollar overshadowed an increase in U.S. crude inventories.

The dollar plunged below 100 yen for the first time in over a decade and hit a new low versus the euro.

After the biggest rally in five years on Tuesday investors soured somewhat on the Federal Reserve-led credit market rescue and focused instead on a string of investment fund failures that suggested much more pain ahead.

"These types of injections are preventing the inevitable default of these institutions that should be defaulting," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey.