PRECIOUS-Gold on track for fourth weekly loss on hawkish Fed bets

* All precious metals head for weekly loss

* Dollar on track for second consecutive weekly gain

* U.S. PCE surged 4.1% in the 12-month period ended May (Updates prices as of 0752 GMT)

By Pablo Sinha

June 26 (Reuters) - Gold prices were on track for a fourth consecutive weekly fall on Friday, as a resilient dollar and expectations of faster U.S. rate hikes to tame inflation kept bullion pressured near the key $4,000-per-ounce level.

Spot gold was steady at $4,027.91 per ounce, as of 0752 GMT. U.S. gold futures for August delivery edged 0.1% lower to $4,043.40.

For the week, bullion was on track for a loss of 3.2%, having slipped below the key $4,000 level for the first time since November 2025 on Wednesday.

"The rapid repricing of the hawkish Fed created a strong bullish momentum in the U.S. dollar, which eventually led to this significant downward drift in gold prices," said Kelvin Wong, a senior market analyst at OANDA.

The U.S. dollar index was headed for a second consecutive weekly gain, making gold more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Wong sees the multi-month correction in gold, since the record high reached in late January, extending towards $3,400 in the long term.

Gold prices have fallen about 29% from the record high of $5,594.82 on January 29, as inflation fuelled by the U.S.-Iran war ramped up rate-hike bets.

Data on Thursday showed that U.S. inflation increased further in May, breaking above 4.0% for the first time in three years, as forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.

Although gold is typically viewed as a hedge against inflation, it tends to lose its appeal as a non-yielding asset in a high-interest-rate environment.

Traders expect three Fed rate hikes this year and are pricing in about a 64% chance of a September increase, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Among other metals, spot silver edged 0.1% lower to $57.80 per ounce, platinum lost 0.3% to $1,605.18, while palladium gained 1.4% to $1,200.75. All metals were headed for a weekly loss. (Reporting by Pablo Sinha in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Swati Verma; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)