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Bullion up 0.8% for the week so far

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Focus on Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20

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Traders pricing in two Fed rate-cuts for the year

(Updates with U.S. morning hours)

By Daksh Grover and Anushree Mukherjee

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Gold prices were pressured by an

uptick in the U.S. dollar on Friday, but remained on track for a

weekly gain as uncertainties around President-elect Donald

Trump's policies and renewed bets of further rate cuts lifted

bullion above the key $2,700 level.

Spot gold eased 0.1% to $2,712.30 per ounce by 10:14

a.m. ET (1514 GMT), while U.S. gold futures slid 0.1% to

$2,747.40.

"The pullback today is not significant, but more of a

profit-taking move than anything else, maybe helped by the

dollar being a little higher in the day, adding some light

pressure," said David Meger, director of metals trading at High

Ridge Futures.

Gold hit over one-month high on Thursday, $65.6 away from

its all-time high of $2,790.15 hit in October. Prices have

gained 0.8% so far for the week, their third straight weekly

gain after softer-than-expected U.S. core inflation figures on

Wednesday intensified speculation of more than a single rate cut

from the Fed.

Traders are pricing in two rate cuts by year-end, with Fed

Governor Christopher Waller hinting at the possibility of more

cuts should economic data weaken further.

Markets now keenly await Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20,

and his broad trade tariffs are expected to further ignite

inflation and trigger trade wars, potentially increasing

bullion's safe-haven appeal.

"The uncertainty in regard to the policies that President

Trump is going to put in place has been one of the supportive

factors for gold," Meger added.

Non-yielding gold, often seen as a hedge against inflation

and political uncertainty, benefits from lower interest rates.

"There are question marks about the state of tariffs, how

they'll be implemented. Many investors are looking to gold as a

way of hedging some of the downside risks, should these new

policies be damaging to growth," said Nitesh Shah, commodity

strategist at WisdomTree.

Spot silver slipped 1.4% to $30.36 per ounce, while

palladium rose 1.6% to $955.25. Platinum added

0.9% to $940.70.