PRECIOUS-Gold eases after breaching $1,450/oz on rate-cut hopes, Iran tensions

* Gold on course for second weekly rise
* SPDR Gold holdings jump 1.4% on Thursday
* Silver on track for best week since July 2016
* Spot gold may climb to $1,461 per ounce - technicals

(Updates prices)
By Brijesh Patel
July 19 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Friday as investors locked
in profits after the bullion surpassed $1,450 an ounce for the
first time in more than six years on dovish signals on monetary
policy from the U.S. Federal Reserve and fresh tensions in the
Middle East.
Spot gold XAU= hit $1,452.60 an ounce in early trade, its
highest since May 2013, and was down 0.5% at $1,439.41, as of
0741 GMT.
The metal is on track for a second straight weekly gain.
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 jumped about 1% to $1,440.50.
At a central banking conference on Thursday, New York Fed
President John Williams said policymakers need to add stimulus
early to deal with lower inflation when interest rates are near
zero and cannot wait for an economic disaster to
unfold. "Depending on how you want to look at Williams' comments
last night, it was an academic report, but cutting to the layer
of the bait and getting to the meat of the argument, it is
dovish," said Stephen Innes, managing partner, Vanguard Markets.
"Gold is trading above $1,400, we are nowhere near
threatening to go back to $1,360 or $1,375, and there is so much
buying going on. Expect gold prices to continue to march
higher."
The comments from Williams made it a virtual certainty the
Fed would opt to cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) at
its July 30-31 policy meeting and also fuelled expectations of
an even deeper 50 bps reduction.
In the wake of Williams' comments, the dollar .DXY fell to
a near two-week low on Thursday, before firming slightly in
early Asian trade. USD/
Uncertainty in the Middle East also boosted the metal's
safe-haven appeal. The United States said on Thursday a U.S.
Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of
Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the vessel, but Iran said
it had no information about losing a drone. "The extra push for gold prices came from comments by
Williams which implied quite aggressive rate-cutting, plus the
Iranian drone news and the seizure of a tanker by the Iranians
in the Straits of Hormuz," said Nicholas Frappell, global
general manager at ABC Bullion.
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust GLD , the world's largest
gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 1.42% to 814.62 tonnes on
Thursday from Wednesday. GOL/ETF
Spot gold may climb to $1,461 per ounce, as it has cleared a
resistance at $1,439, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Silver XAG= rose 0.5% to $16.42 per ounce, having earlier
scaled its highest since June 2018 at $16,46. The metal is on
track for its best week in three years.
Platinum XPT= gained 0.8% to $855.35, while palladium
XPD= shed 0.3% to $1,520.97 an ounce.