* Gold down nearly 1.2% so far this week
* Palladium on track for third weekly gain
* SPDR Gold holdings up by about 27 tonnes this month(Updates prices)
By Harshith Aranya
Aug 23 (Reuters) - Gold eased on Friday and was set for itsworst week in nearly five months, as lack of clarity from theU.S. Federal Reserve on the outlook for interest rate cutstriggered investors to cash in some gains ahead of JeromePowell's speech at Jackson Hole.
Spot gold was down 0.2% to $1,495.80 per ounce, as of0805 GMT.
The metal has lost nearly 1.2% so far this week, on trackfor its biggest weekly percentage decline since March 29.
U.S. gold futures also slipped 0.2% to $1,505.50 anounce.
The market is closely watching Fed Chairman Powell's speechat the Jackson Hole seminar due later in the day (1400 GMT) forclarity on monetary policy after minutes of the U.S. centralbank's July meeting tempered hopes of aggressive rate cuts.
"There is no clear direction on what the Fed is doing, sopeople are on the sidelines until they hear concrete answers,"said Brian Lan, managing director at dealer GoldSilver Centralin Singapore.
"Some people are taking out profits off the table," headded.
Underscoring divisions within the Fed, two central bankofficials said on Thursday the U.S. economy does not need morestimulus at this point while another said he was "open-minded."
Meanwhile, in the U.S. bond market, the two-year, 10-yearTreasury yield curve briefly moved back into inversionovernight. This inversion has heralded several past U.S.recessions.
It had flashed recession red lights last Wednesday for thefirst time since the 2007-08 financial crisis.
"There are still concerns about the economy, tradeuncertainty, geo-political tensions; all these things have notgone away, which is supportive for gold," said John Sharma, aneconomist with National Australia Bank.
Gold is used as a safe investment during times of politicaland financial uncertainty.
Indicative of sentiment, holdings of SPDR Gold Trust,the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, haveincreased by about 27 tonnes so far this month.
Traders are also awaiting the Group of Seven summit thisweekend for clues on what additional steps policymakers may taketo boost economic growth.
On the technical side, a bullish target at $1,524 per ouncehas been aborted for spot gold, as it has more or less broken asupport at $1,497, said Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
Among other precious metals, silver was flat at$17.01 per ounce; while platinum rose 0.2% to $858.76,keeping it on course for a weekly gain.
Palladium also rose 0.2% to $1,489.52 per ounce,putting the autocatalyst on track for a third consecutive weeklyrise, gaining 2.9% so far this week.
(Reporting by Harshith Aranya and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru;Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Rashmi Aich)