By Pham-Duy Nguyen Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Gold rose in New York, rebounding from the biggest weekly loss since October, as the dollar weakened, boosting the appeal of the precious metal as an alternative investment. Silver also gained. The dollar fell as much as 1.6 percent against a weighted basket of six major currencies including the euro and yen. Gold and other commodities generally move in the opposite direction of the U.S. dollar. The yellow metal is headed for an annual loss after seven straight yearly gains while the dollar may advance for the first time since 2005. “You’ve got the dollar weakening and gold could not get to new lows,” said Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services LLC in Chicago. “The facts are on the positive side today with a lot of new buying coming in.” Gold futures for February delivery rose $28.20, or 3.7 percent, to $780.40 an ounce at 9:06 a.m. on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The metal fell 8.2 percent last week, the most since Oct. 17. Silver futures for March delivery rose 80 cents, or 8.5 percent, to $10.23 an ounce on the Comex. The metal is still down 31 percent this year. To contact the reporter on this story: Pham-Duy Nguyen in Seattle at pnguyen@bloomberg.net.

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