PRECIOUS-Gold, silver slip as rebound fades after historic rout

By Anmol Choubey and Noel John

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Gold slid on Thursday while silver dipped more than 15%, as a stronger dollar and easing geopolitical tensions weighed, after a brief rebound failed to steady markets following one of the steepest selloffs in decades.

Spot gold XAU= lost 2.9% to $4,816.75 per ounce, as of 09:20 a.m. ET (1420 GMT). U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for April delivery dropped 2.3% to $4,839.10 per ounce.

Spot silver XAG= was down 15.5% at $74.40 an ounce after dropping as low as $73.41 earlier in the session.

Precious metals have been volatile in recent sessions, with gold and silver posting their steepest losses in decades last Friday after lofty records. Both metals extended the declines on Monday, but recovered modestly over the past two sessions.

"The sharp recovery we saw in gold prices was a mere counter trend move as it came hot on the heels of an ever larger plunge the week before," said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, adding that the sell-off likely shifted market psychology and made another wave of selling unsurprising.

The dollar rose to a two-week high, adding to a broad market sell‑off that saw global equities slide and commodities from crude oil to copper weaken as geopolitical tensions eased. MKTS/GLOB USD/

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a major prisoner swap after U.S.-brokered talks, and President Donald Trump held a call with China's President Xi Jinping that he described as "very positive" despite tensions over Taiwan, while attention also turned to upcoming U.S.-Iran talks in Oman on Friday.

"On the macro side, some of the key drivers that pushed gold relentlessly higher are starting to fade," Razaqzada said.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan said in a note that gold and silver are unlikely to fully decouple, but relatively rich silver valuations leave it vulnerable to outsized corrections in risk-off sessions, even as the bank sees a higher near-term floor around $75–$80 and a recovery toward $90 next year.

Jeweller Pandora PNDORA.CO is shifting to platinum-plated products to reduce its exposure to wild swings in the silver market.

Meanwhile, spot platinum XPT= fell 9.1% to $2,023.30 per ounce, while palladium XPD= shed 5.3% to $1,680.87.