(RTTNews) - The price of gold gave back some of its gains from this week on Friday as traders sold assets for cash amid the U.S. auto industry turmoil. Gold for February delivery closed at $820.50, down $6.10 for the session. Investors kept a close eye on developments in Washington, where Senate Republicans blocked a bailout package for the US auto industry last night. However, the White House pledged to make TARP money from the recently passed $700 billion economic rescue package available to General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. Despite the drop, gold closed the week sharply higher. The precious metal added $68.30 from last Friday's close. The precious metal fell $67 last week, its first weekly decline in five weeks. The U.S. dollar bounced back to recoup most of its daily losses after earlier hitting a 13-year low against the Japanese yen. The buck also plunged to a 7 1/2 week low versus the euro, continuing the week's slump. Crude oil also dropped lower but bounced off its lows of the day. Light sweet crude for January delivery finished at $46.28, down $1.70 for the session. Despite the slide, oil gained $5.47 for the week. On the economic front, the Labor Department said its producer price index fell 2.2 percent in November following an unrevised 2.8 percent decrease in October. The decrease was slightly steeper than economists' expectations of a 2.0 percent drop. Later, a preliminary report showed that the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index rose to 59.1 in December from 55.3 in November. The increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the index to edge down to 55.0.

Source