Gold slips as investors turn cautious ahead of Fed meeting, PCE data in focus

• Silver hit a record high of $58.98/oz on Wednesday
• US private payrolls fell by 32,000 jobs data on Wednesday showed
• Investors price in 89% of a rate cut in December - CME FedWatch

By Ishaan Arora and Sherin Elizabeth Varghese

Dec 4 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Thursday as investors booked profits, taking a cautious stance ahead of next week's U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, while looking to upcoming data for clearer signals on the central bank's interest rate path.

Spot gold XAU= was down 0.2% at $4,196.96 per ounce, as of 0446 GMT. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery were down 0.2% at $4,225.90 per ounce.

"With investors a bit cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting, the market is largely pricing that the Fed will cut by 25 basis points… What the market needs now is a fresh trigger for (gold) prices to move higher," said Soni Kumari, commodity strategist at ANZ.

Kumari flagged ongoing profit-taking and said any slide toward $4,000 would likely attract new buyers, given the precious metal's strong fundamental backing.

U.S. private payrolls dropped by 32,000 in November, the sharpest fall in more than two and a half years, the ADP employment report showed on Wednesday, though still-low layoffs suggest the weakness may not reflect the true health of the labor market.

Markets now assign an 89% chance of a rate cut next week, according to CME's FedWatch tool, while major brokerages also expect easing at the December 9–10 meeting. FEDWATCH

Lower interest rates tend to favor non-yielding assets such as gold.

Focus is now on the delayed September Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, which will be released on Friday.

Meanwhile, silver XAG= fell 0.4% to $58.26 after touching a record high of $58.98 on Wednesday.

Silver has risen 101% so far this year due to concerns about market liquidity after outflows to U.S. stocks, its inclusion in the U.S. critical minerals list and a structural supply deficit.

"Since mid-November, Shanghai silver inventories have run back at a low of around 531 to about 700 tons, the lowest since 2015 as exports from China have majorly increased," said Ajay Kedia, director at Mumbai-based Kedia Commodities.

Platinum XPT= lost 0.9% to $1,656.15, while palladium XPD= slid 1.3% to $1,441.75.