* Gold extends Wednesday's 1 pct drop
* Fed statement seen as hawkish
* US third-quarter GDP expands at 1.5 percent rate (Updates prices; adds comment, second byline, NEW YORK dateline)
By Marcy Nicholson and Clara Denina
NEW YORK/LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Gold fell for a second day on Thursday, reaching its lowest level in three weeks, after the Federal Reserve hinted at a possible U.S. interest rate rise in December.
Spot gold XAU= , stronger initially due to a retreat in the dollar, fell as much as 0.9 percent to its lowest since Oct. 9 at $1,145.43 an ounce. It was down 0.8 percent at $1,146.10 at 2:58 p.m. EDT (1858 GMT).
U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for December delivery settled down 2.4 percent at $1,147.30 an ounce. The fall was more exaggerated than the spot market because the U.S. market settled firm on Wednesday, before the release of the Fed statement that pressured prices.
The Fed kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday, as expected, but in a direct reference to its next policy meeting, the central bank put a December rate increase firmly in play.
The U.S. central bank said that raising rates at its next meeting would depend on progress on employment and inflation, omitting any reference to global developments affecting economic activity. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12R2IF
"The consensus was for the first rate hike to occur in early 2016, so certainly yesterday's statement was read as hawkish compared to expectations," Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said.
In recent weeks, investors had bet that the Fed would delay its first rate hike in nearly a decade until next year because of weakness in the global economy and its impact on the United States.
Rate-futures traders boosted bets that the Fed would raise rates at its next meeting on Dec 15-16. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N12S274
The surprisingly hawkish tone of Fed chair Janet Yellen sent the dollar .DXY soaring to a two-month high. Though it turned down around 0.5 percent Thursday, gold prices continued to fall. FRX/
"The statement was leaning a bit to the hawkish side but I don't think it was that hawkish to justify this size of decline," said Bill O'Neill, co-founders of commodities investment firm Logic Advisors in New Jersey.
"There's a liquidation without any new buyers. Nobody wants to step in here."
Data on Thursday showed U.S. economic growth braked sharply in the third quarter, but solid domestic demand could encourage the Fed to raise rates in December. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nLNNTLEBHB
Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.17 percent to 694.34 tonnes on Wednesday. GOL/ETF
Industrial metals also fell on Thursday, with platinum XPT= down 0.9 percent at $989 an ounce and palladium XPD= falling 1.5 percent to $667.50. Silver XAG= dropped 2.1 percent to $15.58.