Investors clamored to buy pretty much anything on Tuesday &<51; as long as it was not the dollar.

Shares leaped ahead, with the Dow gaining more than 100 points on hopes of robust profit reports as earnings season kicks off later this week.

But a seventh-month slide in the value of the dollar gained force as investors migrated to other markets and fretted over a report that crude oil could one day be priced in other currencies, hobbling the dollar&S217;s role as a vehicle for global trade.

The dollar&S217;s declines propelled gold prices to all-time highs of $1,040 an ounce and touched off a buying spree for copper, silver and platinum and crude oil &<51; all commodities that stand to retain their value if the dollar does not.

The dollar slipped further against major currencies, continuing a decline that has sent it tumbling 15 percent since early March. The dollar fell to $1.47 against the euro, and the Japanese yen strengthened to 88.76 for every dollar. Concerns about record-breaking deficits and a lackluster economic outlook in the United States have steadily eaten away at the dollar&S217;s value since early March.

Investors who sought the relative safety of the American currency during the financial crisis are now pursuing higher returns in stocks, commodities and foreign currencies, amid speculation that demand for American debt is waning, and that the dollar could lose its status as the world&S217;s reserve currency.

Underlying the dollar&S217;s weakness is the growing perception that many policymakers around the world, and in Washington, quietly welcome a slow but sustained depreciation of the dollar, especially against the Chinese renminbi and other Asian currencies.

A weaker dollar would make imported goods more expensive in the United States and American exports more competitive, but it could also make overseas investors wary of buying the Treasury bonds the United States needs to sell to finance its budget deficit.

On Tuesday, investors&S217; concerns were piqued by Australia&S217;s surprise decision to raise interest rates, making it the first big economy to lift rates after the global financial crisis.

Countries around the world &<51; including the United States &<51; trimmed interest rates to record low levels as the credit crisis metastasized last year, in an emergency effort to stimulate the markets and keep lending from drying up. Although credit is flowing better now, the Federal Reserve has indicated that interest rates will hover near zero for some time.

&S220;The move was taken as a sign that the global economy is firmly on the road to recovery,&S221; said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo. &S220;That&S217;s lifted risk appetites and assets across the world. The dollar strengthened when global financial markets went into tailspin and has retraced back all that strength.&S221;

Adding to the turmoil, a report on Tuesday in The Independent, a British newspaper, suggested that China, France, Japan and Russia were in secret talks with Persian Gulf countries to abandon the dollar for international trade in oil and replace it with a basket of currencies plus gold personal business card.

The article named no sources and was quickly denied by Muhammad al-Jasser, the governor of the Saudi central bank, and Dmitry Pankin, Russia&S217;s deputy finance minister. French officials declined to comment. In China, the government is closed for a weeklong holiday, but well-connected bankers were skeptical.

&S220;While informal discussions might have taken place, I doubt they represent a serious intent to undermine the existing global monetary order or the role of the U.S. dollar,&S221; said Fred Hu, who is the chairman of greater China for Goldman Sachs and advises the Chinese government.

But the report caught the attention of financial markets because several economists have been predicting in recent months that at some point, the world&S217;s oil exporters would start moving toward other currencies to limit exposure to the dollar.

&S220;It won&S217;t be easy to make such a shift, it&S217;s a pretty unrealistic idea in the near term,&S221; said Qu Hongbin, an HSBC economist in Hong Kong. But in the years to come, he added, China would be delighted if it could print its own currency to pay for oil, instead of having to earn dollars through exports.

As they pulled away from the dollar, investors streamed into commodities like crude oil and gold, whose values often move in opposite directions from the dollar. Fears that the American currency could decline even further if investors seek higher returns in more lucrative investments pushed gold prices higher.

&S220;Right now it doesn&S217;t give any sing of pulling back significantly,&S221; said James Steel, a commodities analyst at HSBC. &S220;There&S217;s still a worry about the dollar. There&S217;s a latent worry about inflation.&S221;

Crude oil futures in New York rose $1.38, to $71.78 a barrel in early trading.

Analysts characterized the surge in gold and oil prices as a reaction to weakness in the dollar, rather than a sign of bullish hopes for a quick recovery. Although activity is picking up, oil consumption remains subdued as factories lope along at partial capacity, and consumers are still reluctant to spend thousands of dollars on gold jewelry when the recovery is so tenuous.

At 1 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 135 points, or 1.4 percent, and the broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index was 1.5 percent higher, adding to their sharp gains from a day earlier. The Nasdaq was 1.7 percent higher.

Keith Bradsher contributed reporting.

Stocks and Gold Gain as Investors Shun the Dollar