SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures declined Friday, ready to end the week with a loss of around 6% as investors awaited the U.S. House of Representatives vote on a revised version of the $700 billion bailout plan.
Gold for December delivery was last down $10.80, or 1.3%, at $833.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The benchmark gold contract is set to end the week down about 6.2%.
In electronic trading on Globex, the contract was at $834.50, down $9.80.
One major force driving Friday's volatile session was the U.S. dollar, as dollar-denominated gold prices tend to move in the opposite direction of the greenback. The dollar's earlier rally sent gold to as low as $822.50 an ounce on Globex.
Traders will again "keep a close eye on the dollar," said James Moore, an analyst at TheBullionDesk.com. As the dollar moved around, gold trading remained "extremely volatile."
The dollar index , which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was flat. See Currencies.
Potentially putting downward pressure on the dollar, the Labor Department reported Friday that U.S. employment fell by 159,000 in September, the worst job losses since March 2003. See full story.
"We expect the gold price to move lower over the next few weeks," Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank, said in a research note. "We believe strong inflows into gold ETFs have stalled and that the market has failed to take into account the latest rally in the U.S. dollar."
Bailout vote
Meanwhile, the House is scheduled to vote Friday on the bailout plan, which was revised and passed by the Senate on Thursday. In their first reaction Thursday to the passage of the plan in the Senate, investors boosted the U.S. dollar. Gold slumped nearly 5% Thursday to close at its lowest level in two weeks.
Despite heavy selling pressure in commodities, some analysts said they remain optimistic that prices will rebound.
"Murky as the waters seem right now, we remain optimistic that the current panic and hysteria should subside in light of the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus being generated," said Edward Meir, an analyst at futures brokerage MF Global.
"Short term, we are quite oversold in a number of commodity complexes and could be in for a substantial 'relief rally' should the House pass the revised proposal," he said.
Other metals, equities
In other metals, platinum for October delivery lost 2.2% to $958.50 an ounce, while December palladium slid 0.6% to $202 an ounce. December silver rose 3.5% to $11.50 an ounce, and December copper added 2.6% to $2.70 a pound.
In spot trading, the London gold-fixing price -- used as a benchmark for gold for immediate delivery -- stood at $828 an ounce Friday afternoon local time, down $24 from Thursday afternoon.
On the equities side, the Amex Gold Bugs Index rose 5% to 279.07 points.
The SPDR Gold Trust fell 0.4% to $81.99, the iShares Gold Trust slid 0.2% to $81.98, and the iShares Silver Trust ET rose 4.7% to $11.31.
The Market Vectors-Gold Miners ETF added 4.4% to $30.21
