PRECIOUS-Gold lingers near 2-month highs; palladium climbs

* Gold on track for second straight weekly rise

* Silver on track for best week in one year, up over 6%

* Palladium eyes over 10% weekly jump

* Platinum set for its best week since June (Recasts throughout, adds comments and updates prices)

By Swati Verma

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Gold hovered near its two-month highs on Friday as inflation and geopolitical risks underpinned the safe-haven metal, while strong demand for palladium set the autocatalyst on course for its best week since March.

Spot gold eased 0.2% to $1,835.13 per ounce as of 1011 GMT. U.S. gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,835.40.

"The sentiment remains positive despite the modest correction (in gold) seen this morning. From a technical point of view, the current decline can be called a pullback, a test to the former resistance zone of $1,830," said Carlo Alberto De Casa, market analyst at Kinesis.

Gold has risen about 0.9% this week after prices climbed to a two-month high of $1,847.72 on Thursday as benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields retreated.

Investor focus is now on the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting scheduled on Jan. 25-26 as it plans to hike interest rates to fight inflation.

"Apart from inflation concerns, gold prices are benefiting from rising geopolitical tensions, which support safe-haven investment demand," said ANZ analyst Soni Kumari.

Fears that Russia may invade its neighbour Ukraine have kept investors on the tenterhooks.

While gold is an inflationary hedge, it is also sensitive to rising U.S. interest rates, which reduce the appeal of holding non-interest-bearing bullion.

Spot palladium jumped 0.8% to $2,075.68 per ounce, poised for a weekly gain of more than 10%. Platinum was up 0.1% at $1,040.40, set for its best week since last June.

Both metals are used in emissions-reducing autocatalysts for vehicles.

While demand prospects for Platinum Group Metals look better this year amid growing expectations of improving semi-conductors availability in the second half, prices are likely to remain volatile until chip supply tightness eases, ANZ's Kumari said.

Elsewhere, silver was flat at $24.44 per ounce, set for its best week in a year, having risen 6.4%. (Reporting by Swati Verma in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)