GLOBAL MARKETS - Gold at new high on weak dollar, shares slip

By Susan Fenton

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Gold rose above $1,120 an ounce to a fresh record high on Thursday as the U.S. dollar wavered near 15-month lows, while Asian shares lost ground as investors took profits after four days of gains.

Financial spreadbetters expected British and French shares to follow Asian markets lower but saw a higher opening for Germany's DAX share index. U.S. equity futures slipped 0.4 percent.

The dollar fell to a 15-month low in early trade before recouping some losses, but was still down 0.2 percent against a basket of major currencies by midafternoon.

Its weakness encouraged a further shift by investors into gold , which hit a record high for a second day, rising around 0.4 percent to $1,120.30 an ounce, while platinum rose to a record high above $1,376 an ounce.

Bullion has recorded successive record highs for six out of the past eight sessions due to persistent dollar weakness, fears of a resurgence in inflation and hopes for more central bank gold buying.

Sterling also remained under pressure after the Bank of England on Wednesday explicitly called for currency weakness to boost exports and on benign UK inflation data. Sterling was trading at $1.6569, after falling more than 1 percent the previous day.

Asian shares surrendered early gains, showing some signs of fatigue as a massive rally extends into its ninth month.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks traded outside Japan was down 0.3 percent in late trade, snapping a four-day winning streak, but has still more than doubled from March lows and is near a 15-month high hit in October.