By Moming Zhou, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures rose Friday, poised for a slight weekly gain, as the U.S. dollar fell after consumer price data, raising gold's appeal as an alternative investment. In other metals, silver climbed above $15 an ounce to hit a two-month high as hopes for an economic recovery raised expectations that industrial use of the metal will increase. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, December gold futures, the most active contract, rose $2.50, or 0.3%, to $959 an ounce. The less active August contract gained $2.70, or 0.3%, to $957.40. The contract is heading for a weekly gain of less than $1 an ounce. September silver contract rose 1.3 cents, or 0.1%, to $15 an ounce, after hitting $15.185, the highest level since June 11. "Thanks to its widespread industrial use, silver benefits, even more than gold, from current economic hopes," said analysts led by Barbara Lambrecht at Commerzbank, in a note. "Furthermore, in contrast to gold, investors continue to show strong interest in silver." Holdings in iShares Silver Trust (SLV 14.79, +0.45, +3.14%) , the biggest silver exchange-traded fund, stood at 8,824.67 metric tons Thursday, near record high of 8,828.14 metric tons hit in late July. Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust (GLD 93.86, +0.14, +0.15%) , the biggest gold ETF, have showed continued decrease. They stood at 1,065.49 metric tons, down nearly 70 metric tons from the record above 1,134 metric tons hit in early June In economic news, U.S. consumer prices were unchanged in July, after seasonal adjustments, and were down 2.1% year-over-year in the sharpest annual decline since 1950, the Labor Department reported Friday. Among other metals, October platinum fell slightly to $1,272.50 an ounce, while September palladium rose 90 cents, or 0.3%, to $279.05 an ounce. September copper slid 3.75 cents, or 1.3%, to $2.8765 a pound.

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