PRECIOUS-Gold, silver set for weekly losses on tech selloff and stronger dollar

By Ishaan Arora

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Gold and silver recouped early losses on Friday, but were headed for a second straight week of declines as a global rout in tech equities and a stronger U.S. dollar wiped out gains made by the metals during a brief rebound earlier this week.

Spot gold XAU= rose 0.4% to $4,790.80 per ounce by 0224 GMT, but was down 1.4% for the week. U.S. gold futures GCcv1 for April delivery fell 1.7% to $4,806.50 per ounce.

Spot silver XAG= was broadly steady at $71.32 an ounce after a 19.1% drop in the last session. Earlier in the day, it fell as much as 10% to trade below the $65-level, touching a more than 1-1/2-month low.

The white metal was also set for its second straight weekly loss, down almost 16% after shedding 18% last week in its biggest weekly fall since 2011.

"Risk appetite does look diminished, stocks are down and obviously we're seeing Bitcoin just come apart at the seams. There's all kinds of evidence that risk sentiment in general is weakening. In this environment, gold is kind of holding its own and silver is caving in under the risk-off," said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.

Global equities extended losses into a third session as a selloff on Wall Street intensified, with precious metals and cryptocurrencies gripped by wrenching volatility.MKTS/GLOB

JP Morgan said in a note that relatively rich silver valuations leave the metal vulnerable to outsized corrections in risk-off sessions, even as the bank sees a higher near-term floor around $75–$80 and a recovery towards $90 next year.

The U.S. dollar steadied near a two-week high and was poised for its strongest weekly performance since November. USD/

A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced assets more expensive for other currency holders.

Spot platinum XPT= fell 4.7% to $1,892.74 per ounce after hitting an all-time high of $2,918.80 on January 26, while palladium XPD= gained 0.8% to $1,628.95. Both were down for the week.