Gold Lifts as the Dollar Slides

Updated from 11:49 a.m. EST

Gold prices eased Friday, after a week of frenetic trading.

After rallying to an intraday high of $655.50 an ounce, prices for February-dated bullion futures backtracked to close down $2.30 at $650.60 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The exchange-traded funds, which hold the metal, were down also with streetTracks Gold Shares (GLD Quote) and iShares Comex Gold Trust(IAU Quote) both 0.4% lower recently.

The late-day dip came despite further weakness in the dollar, the primary driver of a rally which has lifted spot prices for the yellow metal from about $568 an ounce on Oct. 5 to current levels. The value of bullion tends to move in the opposite direction to changes in the price of the U.S. currency. ...