By Glenys Sim Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Gold traded little changed in Asia as the dollar stemmed a decline against the euro, and equities slumped on concern that a global slowdown will deepen. U.S. stocks tumbled, extending a two-week drop, after a report showed a record contraction in New York manufacturing and Citigroup Inc. said it planned to cut 52,000 jobs. “Gold is caught between being a haven investment and being weighed down by the U.S. dollar,” Zhu Lv, research manager at Shanghai Tonglian Futures Co., said from Shanghai today. “Trade has been lackluster of late because of this lack of direction.” Gold for immediate delivery traded at $738.22 an ounce at 9:47 a.m. in Singapore. Silver for immediate delivery added 0.8 percent to $9.365 an ounce. The dollar traded at $1.2626 per euro after dropping 0.4 percent yesterday as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s general economic index fell to minus 25.4, the lowest since records began in 2001. The currency was barely changed at 96.53 yen after dropping 0.7 percent yesterday. Crude oil advanced 0.6 percent after falling to the lowest settlement since Jan. 2007 yesterday, when China’s largest oil producer said demand dropped “sharply” and a Japanese government report showed the nation had entered its first recession since 2001. Gold for December delivery fell 0.6 percent to $737.70 an ounce in after-hours electronic trading on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gold for October delivery in Tokyo slipped 1.4 percent to 2,288 yen a gram ($737 ounce) at the 11 a.m. local time break. To contact the reporter on this story: Glenys Sim in Singapore at gsim4@bloomberg.net

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