Gold prices rose on Friday

Limiting gold's gains, the U.S. dollar rose against most of its major rivals, putting downward pressure on dollar-denominated gold prices. Read Currencies.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, August gold rose $2.10, or 0.2%, to $937.50 an ounce. It rose as high as $939.80 and fell as low as $931.60 during the session. Gold rose 2.7% in the week.

Higher commodities prices coincided with signs of a rebound on the real estate sector.

New construction of homes and apartments picked up to the fastest pace in seven months in June, the Commerce Department reported. Housing starts rose 3.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 582,000, the highest figure November. See Economic Report.

In energy trading, crude reversed earlier losses after the housing data, moving above $63 a barrel. Higher oil prices tend to raise gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation. See Futures Movers.

Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust /quotes/comstock/13*!gld/quotes/nls/gld (GLD 91.93, -0.05, -0.05%) , the biggest gold exchange-traded fund, rose slightly to 1,094.85 metric tons Thursday, up 0.3 metric tons from a day earlier, according to latest data from the fund.

Other gold ETFs, however, continued to see outflows. Gold holdings in ETFs provided by ETF Securities, such as London-traded Gold Bullion Securities , fell by 39,800 ounces, or about 1.2 metric tons.

"Gold has not acted as a safe-haven investment lately," said analysts led by Barbara Lambrecht at Commerzbank, in a note. "Gold ETF outflows continue to exceed inflows."

In other metals, September silver rose 16.8 cents, or 1.3%, to $13.403 an ounce while October platinum gained $6.80, or 0.6%, to end at $1,176.10 an ounce. September Palladium fell 65 cents, or 0.3%, to $249.60 an ounce.