Gold futures rose above $930 an ounce on Friday to the highest price in a month as crude oil hit a record high and the U.S. dollar continued to weaken, boosting the investment appeal of the precious metal as a hedge against inflation.

Gold for August delivery rallied $16.20 to end at $931.30 an ounce on the Comex division on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The yellow metal hit an intra-day high of $933 an ounce, the highest for a most-active contract since May 27.

The precious metal posted a weekly gain of $27.60, or 3.1 percent from last Friday's closing level of $903.70.

Gold is likely to regain $1,000 an ounce by the end of 2008 and work higher through 2009-2010, said John Hill, an analyst at Citigroup, in a research note.

Also on the Nymex, Silver futures for September delivery rose 49 cents, or 2.8 percent, to $17.71 an ounce. The metal climbed 1.8 percent this week and is up 19 percent this year.

Crude-oil futures soared to a new record of nearly $143 a barrel in Friday afternoon on Globex, a weekly gain of more than 5 percent.

Meanwhile, the dollar has fell 1.1 percent against the euro. The dollar index which tracks the greenback against other major counterparts was at 72.44 compared with 72.48 in late North American trading Thursday.

July platinum fell $9.70 to end at $2,059.10 an ounce. September palladium finished virtually unchanged at $471.20 an ounce compared with Thursday's settlement of $471.25. September copper futures rose 5 cents to $3.88 a pound.

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