gold prices touched their highest level in nearly nine months friday as a weakening us dollar continued to drive a sharp rally in the yellow metal   gold futures for february delivery gc00 gcg23 was marginally higher at 1899 after trading above 1900 an ounce on comex according to factset data a day ago the yellow metal settled at the highest level for a mostactive contract since april   march silver si00 sih23 shed 29 cents or 12 to 2360 per ounce   palladium for march pah23 shed 3090 or 17 to 1760 an ounce while platinum plj23 fell 1780 or 17 to 1066 per ounce   march copper hg00 hgh23 declined by 5 cents or 1 to 415 per pound early friday after finishing at the highest level for a mostactive contract since june a day ago gold was holding on to its gains from thursday when signs of cooling us inflation in the december consumerprice index weighed on the dollar and helped to drive the yellow metal even higher the ice us dollar index dxy a measure of the greenback’s strength against a basket of rivals fell nearly 1 on thursday in response to the cpi data it was recouping some of those losses early friday however and was up 02 to 10246 in recent trade gold has been in rally mode since early november but its latest leg higher this year has grabbed the market’s attention as investors wonder whether the precious metal might return to its highs north of 2000 per ounce seen in march of last year craig erlam senior market analyst at oanda said the yellow metal’s rally has reached a “pivotal” point as the dollar has weakened “gold is continuing its powerful start to the year with another small gain on friday breaching 1900 in the process it’s now right in the middle of the 18801920 range that has been so pivotal in recent years” erlam said