By Arpan Mukherjee Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Gold rose in Asian trade Friday as nervous investors, riled by volatile currency and equity markets, sought a safe haven, amid fears of the global economy tipping back into recession. At 0554 GMT, spot gold was at $1,845.40 a troy ounce, up $20.50 from its previous close, after touching a new high of $1,845.95/oz early in the session. "People are generally nervous, and the knee-jerk reaction this morning in Asia was to buy," Jonathan Barratt, managing director of Commodity Broking Services said. Asian equity markets tumbled after the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped more than 400 points overnight. Traders and analysts said that gold will continue getting support from economic uncertainty and is unlikely to correct sharply without any positive news on growth and sovereign debt problems. Besides disappointing U.S. economic data, investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs both slashed their global growth outlook, making investors jittery. "Gold prices should maintain their upside direction again in today's session, as they benefit from demand for safe haven," MF Global analyst Tom Pawlicki said. One trader said gold could test a technical resistance of $1,875/oz later in the trading day. Despite high prices, India and China reported a 6% rise in jewelry demand to 442.5 tons during the second quarter, the World Gold Council said Thursday, which was about half the global demand. "A new class of investor has emerged, investing in bars and coins in India, as other asset classes are not doing well," said Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, Mumbai-based director of Commtrendz Research. Gold for October delivery touched a record INR27,507 (US$601.37) per 10 grams on the country's MCX exchange. At 0554 GMT, spot silver was at $40.89/oz, up 25 cents, platinum was at $1,852/oz, up $14, and palladium was at $755/oz, up $3 from its previous close. "The silver and platinum group of metals will continue to lag gold as they are not perceived as a hedge against inflation and have more industrial applications," Thiagarajan said, adding that these metals are likely to correct more sharply than gold when the latter pulls back. -By Arpan Mukherjee, Dow Jones Newswires; 64-4-471-5990; arpan.mukherjee@dowjones.com

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