PRECIOUS-Gold holds ground near record high as rate-cut bets build

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Gold prices were little changed on Wednesday, but held near a record high hit last week on prospects of imminent U.S. rate cuts and safe-haven demand fuelled by the Middle East crisis. FUNDAMENTALS * Spot gold XAU= was flat at $2,524.88 per ounce, as of 0033 GMT. Bullion hit a record high of $2,531.60 on Aug. 20. * U.S. gold futures GCcv1 rose 0.3% to $2,560.20. * Members of the boards of directors overseeing the Chicago and New York Federal Reserve banks voted in favour of lowering by a quarter percentage point the central bank's discount rate during July, meeting minutes showed. * Traders have fully priced in a Fed easing for next month, with a 67% chance of a 25-basis-point cut and about 33% chance of a bigger 50-bp reduction, according to the CME FedWatch tool. * Meanwhile, an Israeli air strike hit a pickup truck travelling in northeast Lebanon late on Tuesday, two security sources told Reuters, with one of the sources saying it carried military equipment. * Bullion is considered a hedge against geopolitical and economic uncertainties and tends to thrive in a low-interest-rate environment. * Elsewhere, U.S. consumer confidence rose to a six-month high in August amid optimism over the economic outlook. * Investors now await the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, scheduled for Friday. * Spot silver XAG= was little changed at $29.99 per ounce, platinum XPT= gained 0.6% to $959.21 and palladium XPD= climbed 0.2% to $971.95. DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 1000 France Unemp Class-A SA July (Reporting by Anjana Anil and Daksh Grover in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) (([email protected];))