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By Myra P. Saefong
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures fell by as much as $16 an ounce Friday as strength in the U.S. dollar dulled investment demand for the precious metal. Gold for August delivery was last at $1,530.70, down $12, or 0.8%, after touching a low of $1,526.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. "Commodities in general are getting whacked by the stronger U.S. dollar index," said Darin Newsom, a senior analyst at Telvent DTN. The index DXY +0.46% , which measures the performance of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose to 74.508 from 74.200 late Thursday. July silver SI1N -2.15% was also down 71 cents, or 1.9%, at $36.71 an ounce.