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Bullion hit its lowest since May 9 earlier in the session

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Chinese reserve buying to keep losses limited for gold -

analyst

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Silver, platinum, palladium set for weekly dip

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Nornickel plans to build a PGMs refinery in Bahrain,

source says

(Adds comments, details and updates prices)

By Sherin Elizabeth Varghese

May 24 (Reuters) - Gold prices hit a two-week low on

Friday, set for their biggest weekly loss in nearly eight

months, as interest rate cut expectations started to dwindle

after a hawkish tone in the U.S. Federal Reserve minutes.

Spot gold listless at $2,330.19 per ounce, as of 0341

GMT, after hitting its lowest since May 9 earlier. Bullion hit a

record high of $2,449.89 on Monday, but has fallen about 5%

since then.

U.S. gold futures eased 0.3% at $2,330.80.

"The hawkish tone in minutes from May's Fed policy meeting

flagging policymakers' inability to confidently cut rates...has

driven up Treasury yields and the dollar, and metals seem to

have taken notice," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at

Tastylive.

Bullion is known as an inflation hedge but higher rates

increase the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding gold.

While the policy response for now would "involve

maintaining" the U.S. central bank's benchmark policy rate at

its current level, the minutes released on Wednesday also

reflected discussions of possible further hikes.

Traders' bets indicated rising scepticism that the Fed will

lower rates more than once in 2024.

Spivak noted that "Chinese reserve buying remains a notable

tailwind overall. The pace of uptake slowed to 9% year-on-year

in April from 11% at 2023-end, but the PBOC (People's Bank of

China) is still a major source of demand. That might keep losses

limited for now."

The gold/silver ratio has now dropped, so momentum trends

might switch off to favor gold again, he added.

Spot silver rose 0.4% to $30.21.

Platinum edged 0.1% higher to $1,019.90 and palladium

gained 0.3% to $971.80. All three metals were headed for

weekly losses.

Russia's Nornickel plans to build a PGMs refinery in

Bahrain, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.