PRECIOUS-Gold eases as dollar firms; focus on Fed minutes

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Fed's September meeting minutes due on Wednesday

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Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli city Haifa

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Palladium down nearly 3%

(Adds details, updates prices and graphics)

By Daksh Grover

Oct 8 (Reuters) - Gold prices edged lower on Tuesday, pressured by a stronger dollar, while investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting and more economic data for insights on the U.S. interest rate outlook.

Spot gold fell 0.3% to $2,634.69 per ounce by 0728 GMT. U.S. gold futures lost 0.5% to $2,653.90.

The dollar index hovered near a seven-week high, making bullion more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Gold has lost some momentum due to the rising dollar and bond yields, but downside risks may be limited by global conflicts that favour safe-haven assets, said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade.

Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel's third-largest city, Haifa, while Israel appeared ready to expand its offensive into Lebanon, marking one year since the Hamas attack that ignited the Gaza war.

Bullion is considered a safe investment during times of political uncertainty.

Investors are focused on the minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting, due on Wednesday, followed by the U.S. Consumer Price Index on Thursday and the Producer Price Index data on Friday. Several Fed officials are also lined up to speak throughout the week.

"Looking ahead, if we see any upside surprises in the U.S. CPI numbers this week, this could further boost the dollar and pressure gold," Waterer said.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are no longer pricing in a 50-basis-point reduction at the Fed's November meeting after last week's strong jobs report. They now see an 88% chance for a 25-bp cut.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem expressed support for more rate cuts, emphasising that the economy's performance will guide policy.

Spot silver lost 2.02% to $31.08 per ounce. Platinum was down 1% to $962.90 and palladium fell nearly 3% to $994.00.

Elsewhere, China said it was "fully confident" of meeting its economic targets, but refrained from introducing stronger fiscal steps to get the economy back on track.

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad and Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Varun H K)