GLOBAL MARKETS-Global stock index regains ground, silver and oil extend losses

By Sinéad Carew and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/ LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - MSCI's global equities gauge scratched earlier losses with Wall Street providing a boost while the dollar rose and investors dealt with a deepening selloff in precious metals ahead of a week packed with corporate earnings, central bank meetings and major economic data.

Also on Monday, U.S. crude oil futures were down more than 5% after U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend that Iran was "seriously talking" with Washington, raising hopes for a reduced risk of a U.S. military strike on the country.

Trading in silver XAG=, which had hit a record high on Thursday, was choppy with the precious metal last down 5.6% at $79.92 after earlier falling as low as $71.33.

With Friday's 27% rout, silver was headed for its biggest two-day loss since at least the 1980s.

Dealers said pressure on a number of silver futures funds in China added to the rout late last week, which was exacerbated on Monday by CME Group raising margins on a number of futures contracts, including silver and gold.

PRECIOUS METALS SPIRAL DOWN

Spot gold XAU=, which had also touched a record high on Thursday, fell 3.95% to $4,672.24 an ounce on Monday. This was after an almost 10% slump for the safe-haven metal on Friday.

"Gold and silver are on a rollercoaster ride and when you get to the top of the 'lift hill', gravity takes over and you are heading down," said SP Angel analyst John Meyer.

Meanwhile U.S. equities shook off earlier losses with the S&P 500 rising after three straight days of declines, with help from positive news on artificial intelligence funding.

Moreover, the latest economic data showed that U.S. factory activity grew for the first time in a year in January, with new orders rebounding sharply, although Trump's import tariffs raised raw material prices and strained supply chains.

"The key thing that seemed to turn sentiment today is a push back to focusing on fundamentals," said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Private Wealth in Minneapolis.

"The latest AI news headlines and the economic data this morning are supportive of a strong growth."

Schleif said investors will have "a whole lot of fundamentals to dig our teeth into" this week with earnings due from megacap companies including Alphabet GOOG.O and Amazon AMZN.O as well as chipmaker AMD AMD.O.

DOW JONES, S&P 500, NASDAQ ALL GAIN

On Wall Street at 12:05 p.m. ET (1705 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI had risen 486.14 points, or 0.99%, to 49,378.61, the S&P 500 .SPX was up 46.20 points, or 0.67%, to 6,985.23 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC was up 177.71 points, or 0.76%, to 23,639.52.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS rose 1.19 points, or 0.11%, to 1,045.45.

The pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index rose 1.03% with about 30% of its constituents due to report earnings this week.

The European Central Bank and Bank of England convene on Thursday although neither is expected to make any changes to monetary policy. The Reserve Bank of Australia , which could even raise rates, also sets policy this week.

In currencies , the dollar was rising modestly on Monday after a bounce on Friday, on the back of Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh for Federal Reserve Chair .

Warsh, who served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, has recently advocated for lower rates but he has a more hawkish reputation from his last stint at the central bank.

The dollar index =USD, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and euro, rose 0.29% to 97.51, with the euro EUR= down 0.33% at $1.1809.

Against the Japanese yen JPY=, the dollar strengthened 0.48% to 155.5.

Along with Trump's comments on Iran the stronger dollar also weighed on oil prices.

U.S. crude CLc1 fell 5.14% to $61.86 a barrel and Brent LCOc1 fell to $66.04 per barrel, down 4.73% on the day.

In Treasuries, traders also focused on the Warsh nomination as they estimated whether the former Fed Governor would revisit his more hawkish views or take a more dovish outlook, which Trump has been demanding from the U.S. central bank.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes US10YT=RR rose 3 basis points to 4.271%, from 4.241% late on Friday while the 30-year bond US30YT=RR yield rose 2.8 basis points to 4.9004%.

The 2-year note US2YT=RR yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 3.2 basis points to 3.559%, from 3.527% late on Friday.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin BTC= gained 3.29% to $78,891.57. Ethereum ETH= rose 3.68% to $2,370.73.