* G7 pledges urgent, united action on financial crisis

* U.S. stocks stage late-day recovery but end down

* Oil and other commodity prices plunge, dollar rises

* Paulson says U.S. laying plans for bank equity stakes

* European leaders to meet Sunday, G20 Saturday

By Emily Kaiser and Claudia Parsons

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Finance chiefs of the world's rich nations pledged on Friday to prevent big banks from collapse and to work together to stem the financial crisis after another day of gut-wrenching drops on world markets.

"The current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action," finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations said following their meeting in Washington. They pledged to use "all available tools," but did not announce specific measures.

Reeling from the loss of trillions of dollars of wealth, investors worldwide had pinned their hopes on decisive action from the G7. U.S. stocks pared massive losses in a late recovery after a day of sharp moves. [nN10398960]  Continued...