Gold fell in London, heading for its first weekly decline in five, as a stronger dollar reduced the appeal of the metal as an alternative investment. Palladium rose to a nine-month high. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the dollar’s value, added as much as 0.4 percent today. The index slid 5.5 percent in the past month as gold, which typically moves in the opposite direction to the U.S. currency, gained 8.8 percent. “The dollar is the key driver at the moment,” David Barclay, a metals analyst at Standard Chartered Plc in London, said by phone today. “We’re not close to extreme inflation yet,” though “the dollar will be the main driver for gold for the rest of the year.” Bullion for immediate delivery lost $4, or 0.4 percent, to $976.25 an ounce by 11:30 a.m. local time. The metal is down 0.3 percent this week after four weeks of gains. August gold futures slipped $5.10, or 0.5 percent, to $977.20 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex division. Twelve of 22 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg said the metal will gain next week. Eight forecast lower prices and two were neutral. The metal rose to $977.75 in the morning “fixing” in London, used by some mining companies to sell production, from $970.75 at yesterday’s afternoon fixing. The dollar index fell to its lowest this year on June 2. A report today may show U.S. unemployment rose to the highest since 1983. Employers probably cut 520,000 jobs, the smallest decrease in seven months, economists said in a survey. ‘Immediate Trend’ “If the dollar weakens further, gold could head higher,” said Pradeep Unni, an analyst at Richcomm Global Services in Dubai. “Non-farm payroll figures would be the decisive factor for further clues of the immediate trend in bullion” and “could provide further insight into whether the economy is pulling out of a deep slump,” he said. Silver for immediate delivery in London lost 1.5 percent to $15.655 an ounce. Platinum fell 0.6 percent to $1,287.75 an ounce after surging 4.6 percent yesterday, the most since March 19. Palladium was 2.4 percent higher at $261.05 an ounce. It earlier reached $265, the highest since Sept. 8. Platinum and palladium were poised for third straight weekly advances. “Persistent economic optimism continues to underpin industrial metals” such as platinum-group metals and aluminum, Andrey Kryuchenkov, an analyst at VTB Capital in London, said in a note today. Platinum, palladium and silver have more industrial uses than gold.

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