PRECIOUS-Gold gains on Fed rate cut bets ahead of FOMC meeting

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Fed to decide on rate cut at two-day meeting

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Ukraine's Zelenskiy to meet European leaders in London

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Markets price in 90% chance of Dec rate cut

(Updates for AMERS morning session)

By Sarah Qureshi and Arunima Kumar

Dec 8 (Reuters) - Gold edged higher on Monday as investors grew more confident that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its two-day policy meeting this week, while a softer dollar added support.

Spot gold rose 0.3% to $4,208.40 per ounce by 09:11 a.m. ET (14:11 GMT)). U.S. gold futures for February delivery fell 0.1 to $4,238 per ounce.

The dollar index edged lower, lifting greenback-priced gold's appeal for overseas buyers.

"Both gold and silver are in very strong near-term technical posture. So, that's inviting speculators to the long sides of those markets," said Jim Wyckoff, senior analyst at Kitco Metals.

Prices are "not straying too far from unchanged ahead of the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and the interest rate announcement on Wednesday," he added.

Markets widely expect a 25-basis-point rate cut, with traders seeing a 90% probability, up from about 66% in November

The Fed's Open Market Committee (FOMC) will conclude its meeting on Wednesday with its final policy decision of the year, followed by remarks from Chair Jerome Powell.

Lower interest rates raise non-yielding gold's attractiveness.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is set to meet with European leaders in London, rallying allies for support as Washington increases pressure on Kyiv to agree to a proposed peace deal with Russia.

Gold is seen as a safe-haven asset, and tends to do well during economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

Morgan Stanley sees further upside in gold, driven by a falling U.S. dollar, strong ETF buying, continued central bank purchases, and safe-haven demand.

Silver was up 0.1% at $58.35 per ounce, after hitting a record high of $59.32 on Friday.

"Silver is usually a follower of big brother gold, but the past few weeks silver has actually led the gold market," Wyckoff said, adding that prices will push above $60 an ounce and could even challenge $70 an ounce by year-end.

Platinum added 0.9% to $1,656.50, and palladium rose 1.3% to $1,476. (Reporting by Sarah Qureshi and Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier)