(Recasts, adds comment and updates prices) * Silver set for worst week since mid-September * Analysts lower gold price forecasts for 2021, 2022 - poll * U.S. Q3 GDP grows at slowest pace in more than a year Oct 29 (Reuters) - Gold was set for a third straight weekly gain on Friday as weaker U.S. bond yields and dollar bolstered its appeal, with investors focussing on how the Federal Reserve responds to higher inflation and concerns over tepid economic growth. Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,797.16 an ounce by 0356 GMT, but has gained 0.2% so far this week. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.3% to $1,797.60. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields were set for their biggest weekly decline in three months, reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding bullion. The dollar was headed for a third straight weekly decline, making gold more attractive to buyers holding other currencies. Market participants now await the Fed policy meeting next week. Data showed the U.S. economy grew at the slowest pace in more than a year last quarter, while consumers’ inflation expectations over the next 12 months jumped to a 13-year high. “The baseline is that the Fed wants to be done tapering by mid-2022, but there’s the risk of a more hawkish Fed if it suggests it could be open to tapering faster, which should strengthen the dollar and weaken gold,” DailyFX currency strategist Ilya Spivak said. Reduced stimulus and interest rate hikes tend to push government bond yields and the dollar up, denting gold’s appeal. “We should see a slow grind lower in gold towards $1,700 and possibly under it into year-end,” Spivak said. Analysts in a Reuters poll trimmed their gold price forecasts for the rest of this year and next. In another poll, analysts lowered forecasts for palladium and platinum prices this year and the next as a chip shortage hurts the production of vehicles containing the metals. Platinum rose 0.1% to $1,019.83 per ounce, while palladium gained 0.3% to $1,994.64. Spot silver fell 0.7% to $23.94 per ounce and was set for its worst week since mid-September. (Reporting by Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.