The biggest fall in gold in 5 weeks due to the dollar

Gold prices fell on Friday and headed for the biggest weekly drop in five weeks as the dollar rallied as investors shifted to an expected increase in US interest rates next week.

Gold fell 0.4 percent in spot trade to $ 1237.65 an ounce by 07:47 GMT. Earlier in the session, prices hit the lowest level since Dec. 6 at $ 1236.80 an ounce.

The yellow metal is about 0.6 percent lower this week.

Gold fell 0.3 percent in futures to $ 1244.2.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.2 percent.

The US central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates at its meeting on December 18 and 19 for the fourth time this year.

Among other precious metals, palladium dropped about 1 percent in spot trade to $ 1248.99 an ounce. The metal hit a record high of $ 1269.25 an ounce in the previous session.

Silver fell 1 percent to $ 14.61 an ounce, up about 0.3 percent this week.

Platinum settled at $ 792.90 an ounce and is heading for a weekly gain after falling for five weeks.