HONG KONG (Reuters) – For tycoon Cheng Yu-Tung, 86, listing his jewelry retailer Chow Tai Fook, the world's largest, on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange paves the way for his younger generation to strengthen its position in China's glittering market.

Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd, built by Cheng from scratch into a household name in China, debuted on Thursday with a market value of about $19 billion – more than twice that of Tiffany & Co – after raising $2 billion from Hong Kong's third largest IPO this year.

The stock lost some of its sparkle, however, sliding as much as 9 percent – a victim of weak sentiment on global financial markets.

That market uncertainty has prompted several other companies to cancel Hong Kong IPOs, but Chow Tai Fook seized a tiny window of opportunity to launch its IPO and raise the money it badly needs for future expansion.

The decision to go ahead with the listing underscores Cheng's anxiety to cash in on China's booming jewelry market where demand from a burgeoning middle class is driving fiercer competition from Tiffany and Cartier as well as local rivals Chow Sang Sang and Luk Fook.

"We have no intention, at least for 10 years, to open any POS (points of sale) other than in China, Hong Kong and Macau," his son Henry Cheng, chairman of Chow Tai Fook, said earlier this month.

Chow Tai Fook – which means 'good luck' in Cantonese – will use the IPO proceeds to buy gold and diamonds and expand its jewelry store network.

While Chow Tai Fook is mainly run by Henry and his grandson Adrian, a Harvard graduate and ex-Goldman Sachs banker, analysts say Cheng Yu-Tung remains the lynchpin and, as honorary chairman of the 82 year-old firm, holds sway on the big decisions.

"We see this listing as one of the steps of handing over because he (Cheng) wants the business to stay successful," said Eugene Mak, analyst at Core Pacific Yamaichi International. "One of the best ways to do that is to go public. This is a good thing for the business in the long run."

BUSINESS EMPIRE

Cheng Yu-Tung, also chairman of one of Hong Kong's biggest property groups, New World Development, has businesses spanning real estate and jewelry to infrastructure, hotels and telecommunications around the world.

The spry octogenarian is one of Hong Kong's richest men with a fortune estimated at $9 billion by Forbes.

Chow Tai Fook, founded by Cheng's father-in-law Chow Chi-yuen in 1929, opened its first outlet in Beijing in 1998. It now has some 1,500 stores, most of them in China's 260 cities, and aims to expand that to 2,000 stores by 2016.

Characterized by its burgundy colored logo, Chow Tai Fook stores dominate shopping districts in Hong Kong with some stores within a short walking distance from each other. Advertisements are plastered across double-decker buses and subway stations, dwarfing those of rivals.

A golfer and known for his down-to-earth personality, Cheng is often seen dressed in sports shoes walking around Chow Tai Fook stores in downtown Hong Kong, mingling with staff and customers.

Soft spoken and friendly in person, Cheng, with his cropped dark hair and signature mole to the right of his mouth, looks more like an elderly Chinese uncle than a high-powered billionaire.

POKER AND FAMILY

Cheng also enjoys playing poker with good friends who include real estate mogul Lee Shau Kee, chairman of Henderson Land, say people close to him. His circle of friends also includes former Macau kingpin Stanley Ho, and Cheng remains a non-executive director of Ho's gaming conglomerate SJM, they say.

Having started as a trainee with Chow Tai Fook in 1947, Cheng is known to love home cooked Cantonese food, favoring fish and soup.

Also one of Hong Kong's leading philanthropists, Cheng is attached to his hometown of Shunde in southern China's Pearl River Delta, say colleagues, and has set up production facilities there for his business.

A father of four, Cheng is married to Chow Tsui Ying, whose father started Chow Tai Fook's first gold shop.

"There are a lot of people named Cheng working for him. Even if they are not blood relatives, they are people who come from his hometown area," said a contact close to Cheng.

(Editing by Charlie Zhu and Ian Geoghegan)

TORONTO (Reuters) – Toronto's main stock index was higher shortly after the open on Friday as energy and gold-mining issues rose, offsetting fears that the euro zone's debt crisis was deepening after another round of poor Italian and German bond sales.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was up 44.10 points, or 0.4 percent, at 11,529.42 in early trade. It opened lower at 11,483.85.

(Reporting by Jon Cook; editing by Peter Galloway)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Gold prices slumped more than $100 an ounce on Friday, the biggest fall on record in dollar terms, as traders sold to cover losses, while global stocks edged up on expectations the European Central Bank will take new measures to contain the euro zone debt crisis.

Trading was volatile, capping one of the most tumultuous weeks on record for world markets as fear of a Greek default and a gloomy Federal Reserve prognosis for the U.S. economy sparked a sell-off in stocks and commodities and drove investors to the safe-haven U.S. dollar and Treasuries.

A pledge by G20 policy makers that they will calm the global financial system failed to appease investors, who are concerned that authorities are unable to respond effectively to the mounting euro zone debt crisis and sluggish growth in major world economies.

Gold slumped more than 6 percent at one point — its biggest drop since the financial crisis in 2008 — to hit its lowest since early August as a slide turned into a free-fall, with weeks of volatility and talk of hedge fund liquidation wrecking its safe-haven status.

"The bull case for gold is on pause for the near term," said Adam Klopfenstein, senior market strategist for precious metals at MF Global in Chicago.

"In the near-term, the flight-to-quality interest in owning gold is also out of the window as people are not interested in buying it even in the face of fears in the economy. Until it stabilizes, I'm staying out of this market."

Spot gold was last at $1,649 an ounce, after falling to a session low under $1,628. At $127 an ounce, the intraday move was the biggest on record in dollar terms.

U.S. stocks ended higher after seesawing between gains and losses, stopping the bleeding after a disastrous four days of selling marred by severe anxiety.

Comments from European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny, who said it might be advisable for the central bank to add more liquidity to European banks helped lift sentiment.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 37.65 points, or 0.35 percent, at 10,771.48. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 6.87 points, or 0.61 percent, at 1,136.43. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 27.56 points, or 1.12 percent, at 2,483.23.

Global stocks as measured by the MSCI All-Country index were up 0.2 percent, after hitting their lowest level since July 2010 at 274.20.

The index is now in bear market territory — defined as a fall of 20 percent or more from the peak — having tumbled more than 22 percent from its 2011 high in May.

"Financial markets are sick and tired of the authorities in Europe and in the U.S. twiddling their thumbs and not doing substantive things to solve this crisis of the global economy," said Barton Biggs, managing partner at New York-based Traxis Partners.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index ended up 0.8 percent. Emerging markets stocks slid 1.6 percent.

COMMODITIES ROUT

Liquidity comments from ECB officials and speculation the central bank may cut rates helped sentiment initially, but uncertainty about Greece remained.

Greece denied reports that one option in its debt crisis would be an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut, while Deutsche Bank warned that European banks' write-downs on Greek bonds could exceed 25 percent.

Metals prices plunged across the board. Silver prices posted their biggest drop since 2006. Spot silver was down 15 percent and trading below $35.76 an ounce after hitting a session low of $29.77.

Copper hit $7,115.75, its lowest since August 2010. It was its sharpest weekly decline in nearly three years for the economically sensitive red metal.

U.S. crude fell 66 cents to settle at $79.85 a barrel. London Brent crude fell $1.52 to settle at $103.97.

The euro rose 0.4 percent to $1.3515, rebounding from an eight-month low. The dollar rose 0.5 percent to 76.66 yen and was on track for its best month since May 2010 against a basket of currencies.

U.S. Treasuries prices slipped after a huge rally this week.

Benchmark U.S. 10-year notes were down 1-2/32 in price, with yields rising to 1.84 percent. Prices of 30-year bonds were down 2-1/32, yielding 2.90 percent.

(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica, Steven C. Johnson and Barani Krishnan in New York and Harpreet Bhal in London; Editing by Andrew Hay)

Metals prices closed lower Monday as increasingly confident investors move money out of hard assets and into stocks.

Gold and silver fell as the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.8 percent. Investors often buy gold as a last resort when they’re fearful of holding stocks. The reverse also holds true: investors often dump gold once stocks start looking promising again.

Gold prices also fell because investment managers sold contracts to lock in gains made over the last month, said George Gero, vice president of global futures at RBC Capital Markets. Gold is still up 9.8 percent this month on fears about inflation and uncertainty over the economy.

Traders feel that gold and silver are a safer bet than stocks or currencies during times of weak economic growth. By selling appreciated gold contracts at the end of August, traders can take their profits and put them into other investments to make their portfolios look more diverse.

Gold for December delivery fell $5.70 to settle at $1,791.60 an ounce. September silver lost 40.6 cents to $40.546 per ounce.

Other metals also fell. September copper fell 1 cent to $4.089 per pound, October platinum fell $1.90 to $1,825 an ounce and September palladium dropped $2.40 to $753.95 an ounce.

While industrial metals often rise with the stock market, trading was weak in part because London exchanges were closed because of a bank holiday there. Gero said demand was higher for stocks, so metals contracts mostly stagnated in weak trading.

Grains were mixed. December wheat lost 2 cents to finish at $7.95 a bushel. December corn increased 3 cents to $7.70 a bushel and November soybeans rose 23.5 cents to $14.47 a bushel.

Oil prices rose after the government said consumers spent more in July, easing concerns about another recession. It was the latest in a series of reports that indicated the economy improved last month, which could strengthen demand for oil and gasoline.

Benchmark crude rose $1.90 to end at $87.27 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.15 cents to $3.0173 per gallon, gasoline fell 1.65 cents to finish at $2.7695 per gallon and natural gas lost 8.2 cents to settle at $3.83 per 1,000 cubic feet.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks posted strong gains for a second day on Wednesday as investors jumped back into beaten-down financial shares and backed away from safer assets like gold in volatile trading.

In a stunning development after the closing bell, Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc — the technology powerhouse he co-founded in a garage. Jobs, 55, is a pancreatic cancer survivor who has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since January 17. Apple said Jobs has been elected chairman and Tim Cook has been elected CEO, Apple said.

Apple’s stock, which had been halted after hours, resumed trading at 6:55 p.m. and slid 7 percent. In regular trading, Apple had gained 0.7 percent to close at $376.18 and the S&P information technology index, which includes Apple as a component, had gained 0.8 percent during the session.

Analysts’ opinions of the implications for Apple’s future were mixed. Ashok Kumar of Rodman & Renshaw said it “is not a good sign” for Jobs to step down ahead of the highly anticipated release of the iPhone 5, while Jeffrey Fidacaro of Susquehanna Financial Group called it “a prudent move” to name Cook as Jobs’ successor, adding that “it’s nice to get a succession plan in place with Steve Jobs still at the helm of the board.”

SWING TIME

During the regular session, the stock market swung back and forth as investors anticipated a key speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday. There had been hope the Fed chief would hint of stimulus to aid the struggling economy, but a more likely outcome is for gradual measures.

“Some investors have been buying because it feels, looks like perhaps we’ve seen the lows of the correction,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors LLC in Albany, New York.

“(But) savvy investors don’t expect QE3. They do not expect the Federal Reserve to unveil anything significant.”

The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 143.95 points, or 1.29 percent, to end at 11,320.71. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index jumped 15.25 points, or 1.31 percent, to finish at 1,177.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 21.63 points, or 0.88 percent, to close at 2,467.69.

The S&P has risen for three straight sessions.

Bank of America Corp rose 11 percent to $6.99, reversing losses on Tuesday when the Dow component hit a 2-1/2-year low on fears it may have to raise large amounts of capital. BofA shares are still down more than 30 percent so far this month.

The S&P financials index advanced 2.8 percent, with JPMorgan Chase & Co shares up 3 percent at

$35.83.

Traditional value stocks such as CVS Caremark and Time Warner were among the day’s top gainers. CVS shares rose 3.1 percent to $34.44 and Time Warner gained 3.3 percent to $29.84.

Bernanke is due to address central bankers at an annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on Friday. His speech last year laid the groundwork for the Fed’s unprecedented $600 billion bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing, or

QE2, to revive a sputtering U.S. economy.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell but remained at high levels, and investors preferred buying traditional value stocks, suggesting there was caution in the market.

The VIX fell 1 percent to close at 35.90. The gauge generally moves inversely to the stock market as it tracks the price investors pay for protective options on the S&P 500 index.

END OF A GOLDEN AFFAIR

Exchange-traded funds tracking gold stocks and gold-mining stocks fell after U.S. gold futures for December dropped more than 5 percent, sliding $104 to end at $1,757.30 an ounce in the steepest percentage drop since December 2008 during the financial crisis. On a price basis, it was the biggest decline in the continuous front-month gold futures contract since January 22, 1980, when it fell nearly $150.

The SPDR Gold Trust Index declined 3.4 percent to $171.63, while the Market Vectors Gold Miners Index fell 2.5 percent to $59.96..

Barrick Gold shares dropped 3.4 percent to $48.99 and Goldcorp Inc shares fell 3.6 percent to $49.44.

Sectors that led Tuesday’s rally, such as energy and technology, shed gains. Growth stocks such as Nvidia fell 1.4 percent to $13.04 and Netflix dropped 1.6 percent to $216.03.

Earlier, the government reported that orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods surged in July, rising twice as much as economists had forecast.

About 8.21 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, slightly lower than last year’s daily average of about 8.47 billion.

On the NYSE, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of more than 2 to 1. On the Nasdaq, advancers also beat decliners by 1,689 to 853.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Additional reporting by Liana Baker, Yinka Adegoke, Alistair Barr and Nichola Groom; Editing by Jan Paschal and Kenneth Barry)

NEW YORK – Stocks are closing higher after a late afternoon surge. Gold dropped $104, the dollar and government bond yields rose as investors became less fearful.

A rise in orders for long-lasting goods like cars and aircraft in July eased fears that the U.S. was headed for another recession.

Stocks rose for a third straight day, but only after swinging from gains to losses and back again. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 144 points, or 1.3 percent, to close at 11,321 Wednesday.

The S&P 500 index rose 15, or 1.3 percent, to 1,178. The Nasdaq rose 22, or 0.9 percent, to 2,468.

More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange Trading volume was above average at 4.6 billion shares.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – European stocks looked set to extend four weeks of losses on Monday, tracking jittery Asian shares lower, while gold shot to new highs as investors worried about the sluggish U.S. economic outlook and Europe’s festering debt crisis.

Major European benchmark indexes were expected to open as much as 1.1 percent lower, tracking Friday’s losses on Wall Street on worries the U.S. economy may slide into recession again.

Spot gold prices hit a record above $1,878 per ounce as the shaky global outlook prompted investors to move more money into the safe haven, while oil prices tumbled on hopes Libya may resume full output soon as a six-month civil war seemed to be nearing an end.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index lost 0.8 percent, with increasing expectations that Tokyo will intervene in forex markets to weaken the strong yen offsetting growing worries that the U.S. economy may be sliding back into a recession.

Shares elsewhere in the region as measured by the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index fell more than 1 percent after briefly edging into positive territory earlier in the session.

A similar pattern was seen in S&P 500 futures, which recoiled from early gains to slip 0.4 percent by 1:30 a.m. EDT, pointing to more losses in Western markets later in the day.

“Given the economic hurdles faced in Europe and the United States, an upward trend is hard to sustain,” said Park Yong-myung, a fund manager at Hanhwa Investment Trust Management.

Khiem Do, head of Asian multi-asset with Baring Asset Management in Hong Kong, said there would be little visibility on the direction of markets until it was clear whether the United States will slide into recession or not.

“The sentiment of markets is very weak at the moment,” he said.

MSCI’s world stock index fell 0.4 percent. The index has slipped into a bear market territory by dropping more than 20 percent from its three-year high in May.

BERNANKE IN FOCUS

A key event this week will be a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on August 26 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, during which he is expected to provide an economic outlook and hints on how policymakers plan to handle the turmoil in financial markets.

Bernanke used the same event last year to suggest the Fed could help growth by buying long-term bonds, but no major announcements are expected this time.

On Friday, U.S. stocks fell after Hewlett-Packard’s weaker outlook and corporate shakeup added to uncertainty for investors after a month of bad surprises ranging from a U.S. credit rating downgrade to a sharp slowdown in world growth.

Markets will also watch data on bond buying by the European Central Bank and debt issuance by European countries such as Italy on Tuesday to see if the euro zone’s debt crisis is worsening.

Also on Tuesday, a raft of preliminary manufacturing data will shed light on whether economies from China to the euro zone are continuing to lose momentum.

Brent oil futures fell 2.3 percent to $106.10 a barrel, weighed down by a firmer U.S. dollar and as the months-long conflict in oil-producing Libya appeared to enter its decisive phase, with rebel fighters streaming into the heart of Tripoli.

The dollar index, which tracks the strength of the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose 0.1 percent.

The dollar surged higher against the yen, but later pared some of its gains, with traders citing talk that the spike in the dollar was triggered by bids by a U.S. bank.

The move came as investors were increasingly on edge about the possibility that Japan may intervene to curb yen strength, in the wake of the dollar’s drop down to a record low around 75.95 yen late last week.

The dollar was largely flat against the yen at 76.71 yen, having risen to as high as 77.23 yen earlier.

(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo and Ju-min Park in Seoul; Editing by Kim Coghill and Ramya Venugopal)

LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks ceded more ground on Friday, hurt by mounting concerns the U.S. economy is heading into another recession and as some European lenders faced a short-term funding crunch, highlighting the risk of another banking crisis.

Nervous investors fled to the safety of core government bonds and gold, which hit a record high, with many seeking to unwind their holdings in riskier assets like stocks, commodities and higher-yielding currencies before the weekend.

European shares extended steep losses from Thursday, when they suffered their biggest daily slide in 2-1/2 years, with key indexes in Britain, France and Germany all in the red.

The FTSEurofirst index was down 1.25 percent, having already lost 15 percent this month to put it on track for its worst monthly decline since at least 1997.

The MSCI world equity index was down 1 percent. It too has lost nearly 15 percent since the start of month, and saw nearly $1.4 trillion wiped off valuations on Thursday and early on Friday — equivalent to the combined economies of Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

“The heavy selling is on the back of fears over the state of global economic growth and the ability of European banks to withstand another freezing over of credit markets,” said Ben Potter, strategist at IG Markets.

The sharp decline in stock markets is expected to have an adverse impact on household wealth, further undermining consumer confidence and demand in coming months. Heightened uncertainty over global growth could also see producers delaying decision-making, hitting output.

CRUNCH TIME

Spot gold rose more than 1 percent to an all-time high of $1,844.55 an ounce, before easing to $1,841.94 by 1:30 a.m. EDT. The gains put it on track for a 5.6 percent weekly rise, its seventh weekly gain in a row and what would be the largest since February 2009.

Oil prices fell, with Brent crude extending losses on renewed expectations of weak demand from the world’s top oil consumer after a slew of lackluster U.S. data.

Brent fell as low as $105.80 a barrel, down more than $1 from the previous session, and has lost more than 9 percent this month, the worst slide since a near 15 percent drop in May 2010.

Earlier, a sharp decline in factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region to the lowest level since March 2009 stunned investors.

An unexpected fall in existing U.S. home sales in July and a greater than expected rise in new claims for jobless benefits in the latest week also added to fears that the U.S. economy’s recovery could stall, sending it back into recession.

In Europe, renewed fears that the debt crisis could infect the region’s financial system put pressure on short-term funding markets, forcing some European banks to pay higher rates for dollar loans and reviving memories of the dark days of late 2009 after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

“There has been a panic about European banks. European governments are guaranteeing European banks, but if the governments are not stable themselves, that means the banks aren’t stable,” said Lothario Mendel, chief investment officer at Octopus Investments, which manages $4 billion.

The dollar was flat while the euro and commodity currencies like the Australian dollar were lower as stocks were sold off.

German Bund futures were supported near record highs as worries over a potential U.S. slump and the euro zone debt crisis provided underlying support for safe-haven assets.

(Additional reporting by Brian Gorman, Atul Prakash and Dominic Lau; Editing by John Stonestreet)