Global economic uncertainty will fuel the current surge in investment demand for gold, even as record prices force a slump in the jewelry market, the World Gold Council (WGC) said Thursday.

Global demand for gold was 1,054 tons in the three months to September, up 6.0 percent year-on-year -- equal to a record high of $57.7 billion in value terms, the WGC said in a report.

Airbus and Boeing concluded Dubai Airshow Wednesday head to head after bagging big orders, while the European producer widened the gap with its U.S. rival in promoting eco-friendly, single-aisle jets.

The prestigious show was kicked off with a record order by Dubai's Emirates for 50 Boeing long-range 777-300ER jetliners, worth $18 billion. The American manufacturer topped its single largest dollar-value order with the sale of two 777 freighters to Qatar Airways for $560 million.

EU leaders called on Wednesday for Brussels to have power to rewrite national budgets to ensure the euro survives amid concerns that such discipline could clash with democracy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Brussels would have to be given the power to scrutinize national budgets and demand changes before they are adopted.

Oil prices in New York topped the $100 level for the first time since June 10 as traders anticipated tightening supplies at the beginning of winter.

The main New York contract, West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery, topped the $100 level shortly after opening and pushed up to $101.33 at around 1515 GMT, compared with Tuesday's close of $99.37.

Reeling from their exposure to the Eurozone debt crisis and needing to bolster their capital base, European banks are slashing their government bond holdings but risk making matters worse.

Top banks announced recently they are cutting their portfolios of bonds issued by such weak Eurozone members as Italy, Spain, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, aiming to minimize the risk to profit and to their capital.

Total said Tuesday the Syrian government has stopped paying for oil the French energy giant produces in the country, which is the target of a European Union ban on oil exports.

"We are no longer being paid," a Total spokesman said, confirming media reports. He said the company had since late September "slightly" reduced its production in Syria but was continuing to produce oil and gas there.

Turkey said Tuesday it has halted joint oil exploration with Syria and threatened to cut energy supplies to its neighbor as relations sour over the Syrian regime's bloody crackdown on demonstrators.

"We are currently exporting electricity (to Syria). If the situation continues like this, we may be in a position to revise all these decisions," Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said.

The Greek economy shrank 5.2 percent in the third quarter, official figures showed on Tuesday, highlighting the depths of the crisis as parliament debates approval of a new government to enact a debt rescue.

Athens is racing against time to adopt deeply unpopular reforms demanded by its European and IMF creditors before the release of bailout loans needed to avert bankruptcy in mid-December.

Leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit on Tuesday by reiterating the need for a fair gas price while Iran, whose president was absent, warned that Western taxation will derail the energy market.

The 12-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) expressed in a declaration they issued after the one-day summit "the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil ... prices indexation."

OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with South Korea on developing nuclear power generation to help meet the kingdom's rising demand, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The announcement came amid mounting concern in the Sunni-ruled kingdom about the nuclear program of its Shiite rival across the Gulf, Iran, which Riyadh, in common with Western governments, fears may conceal a drive for a nuclear weapons capability.