PRECIOUS-Gold steadies at near two-week high as investors weigh Fed rate-cut bets

By Ishaan Arora

Nov 27 (Reuters) - Gold was broadly steady on Thursday after hitting a near two-week high in the previous session, as market participants weighed the possibility of a December U.S. interest rate cut amid conflicting signals from the Federal Reserve.

Spot gold XAU= was down 0.2% at $4,154.09 per ounce, as of 0200 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery fell 0.3% to $4,151.20 per ounce.

"At this moment the Fed isn't clear in terms of what they're going to do next and gold is just consolidating before the run up (to the Fed meeting) beginning this week," GoldSilver Central MD Brian Lan said.

Conflicting signals on the timing and magnitude of rate cuts have accelerated, hedging flows into swaptions and derivatives tied to overnight rates, with investors seeking protection against heightened policy uncertainty.

Some Fed officials, led by New York Fed President John Williams and Governor Christopher Waller, have stated a December easing may be warranted due to the labor market weakness putting downward pressure on Treasury yields.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields US10YT=RR held near one-month lows in the previous session.

Their stance, however, contrasted with several regional Fed presidents advocating a pause in easing until inflation shows a more convincing move toward the 2% target.

Meanwhile, Kevin Hassett, who has emerged as a frontrunner to replace Jerome Powell as Fed Chair, like U.S. President Donald Trump, has said rates should be lower.

U.S. rate futures are pricing in an 85% chance of a rate cut in December, according to the CME's FedWatch tool.

Non-yielding gold tends to perform well in a low-interest-rate environment.

Weekly jobless claims fell last week, data on Wednesday showed, though the labor market is struggling to generate enough jobs for those out of work.

U.S. consumer confidence also weakened in November on concerns regarding jobs and household financial outlook.

Elsewhere, spot silver XAG= fell 0.9% to $52.89 per ounce, platinum XPT= gained 1.4% to $1,611.04, and palladium XPD= lost 0.9% to $1,409.87.