LONDON, March 14: The dollar tumbled to fresh all-time lows against the eauro on Friday and gold jumped to record highs after topping $1,000 for the first time ever as more US economic woes roiled the markets.

The seemingly relentless advance of the euro and gold got another twist on Friday with news that US investment bank giant Bear Stearns, badly hit by the credit crunch, needed emergency funding to ease liquidity problems.

In late European trade, the euro was at $1.5620, down slightly from $1.5624 in New York Thursday and off the record $1.5688 hit earlier on Friday.

The dollar was at 99.99 yen, down from 100.60 yen to test 12-year lows.

The latest round of turmoil prompted EU leaders on Friday to call on the banks to help stabilise nerve-wracked financial markets as they also sounded the alarm about the euro’s record-breaking gains.

“We would like to invite financial institutions to help reduce the instability on financial markets within their limits,” Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa told reporters after chairing a summit of EU leaders.

Dealers noted that in late trade the dollar steadied slightly amid speculation that central banks might be considering intervention although most thought this unlikely.

The Fed is scheduled to meet on Tuesday but talk has even surfaced that they could announce an emergency cut before the meeting, as they did in January.

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold rose to $1,003.50 per ounce from $995 late Thursday but was off the record high of $1,007.40.—AFP