*

Asian benchmarks volatile, Kospi briefly halted after 5%

plunge

*

Fed rate cut odds growing as software rout hammers S&P 500

*

Precious metals try to regain footing, silver up a tad

after 10%

plunge

*

Cryptocurrencies pause for breath after steep losses in

choppy

*

Indonesia resumes selloff after Moody's cuts outlook

(Updates markets, adds Indonesia, silver fund)

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Global stocks extended

losses into a third day on Friday as a selloff on Wall Street

intensified, leaving investors dazed as wrenching volatility

gripped precious metals and cryptocurrencies.

The MSCI All-Country World Index was down

0.1%, rallying off intra-session lows but ‌still on track for its

worst week since mid-November.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

tumbled 0.8% to head for a second straight day

of losses. S&P 500 e-mini futures slid 0.3% and Nasdaq

e-mini futures fell 0.5%.

"There's a ​massive rotation that's going on, and Nasdaq is

clearly underperforming the S&P and things like boring consumer

staple stocks," said Prashant Bhayani, chief investment officer

for Asia at ‍BNP Paribas Wealth Management. "The market is

starting to say 'ok, yeah, AI is very interesting', but people

are also saying 'What is ⁠my payback?'"

Stocks on Wall Street sold off ⁠on Thursday for a third

straight day on fears that new AI models may start to eat into

the profits of software firms, with the S&P 500 turning

negative for the year as fears around the ‌labour market grew.

Layoffs announced by U.S. employers surged in January to the

highest level for ​the month in 17 years, a survey from global

outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed on

Thursday.

TESTING TIME FOR SPECULATIVE TRADERS

Cryptocurrency markets managed to staunch a bruising selloff

for now after a $2 trillion wipeout on Thursday, with bitcoin

jumping 2.4% to $64,642.09 after earlier falling as much

as 4.9% ⁠to a low of $60,008.52. Ether was last up 3% at

$1,901.54, partially recouping ‍a 5.1% decline.

Precious metals ​were also looking to regain their footing

after sharp falls, with silver clawing back a 0.5% gain

to $71.61 having plunged as much as 10%. Gold was up 0.9%

at $4,815.19 after an earlier decline of 2.4%.

China's UBS SDIC Silver Futures fund, which has

recently emerged as an important marker of ‍the rout in precious

metals, was suspended for an hour at the start of trading to

protect investors after falling by its maximum 10% for several

days. The fund promptly fell by the same magnitude when it

reopened on Friday.

"You've seen a lot of these big crowded positions being

unwound very, very aggressively and that's led to massive

flows," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group

in Melbourne.

"We're getting to a stage where we could see, later this

year, casualties," he added.

"Certain businesses - not the Mag7 - but for some of the

smaller businesses, the capital markets may not be so kind," he

said, referring to the so-called Magnificent Seven mega-cap

technology stocks.

The S&P 500 ​software and services ‍index dropped

4.6%, having shed about $1 trillion in market value since

January 28, in a selloff dubbed "software-mageddon."

Amazon ( AMZN ) shares tumbled 11.5% in after-hours trading

on Thursday after it projected a surge of more than 50% in

capital expenditures this year.

Asian stocks were volatile, with some investors seemingly

looking for cheaper entry ​points amid the broad losses. An

initial 5% dive for South Korea's Kospi, which triggered

a brief trading halt, was pared to 2.3% by midday. Japanese

stocks rose, with the Nikkei 225 up 0.3%, while China's

Shanghai Composite eked out a 0.1% increase.

Indonesian stocks opened 2% lower after Moody's

lowered its outlook on the country's credit rating, citing

reduced predictability in policymaking days after MSCI flagged

transparency issues that triggered a market rout of more than

$80 billion.

BETS MOUNT ON FED RESPONSE

On the U.S. monetary policy front, the market is starting to

bet on an increased likelihood of a rate cut by the Federal

Reserve at its next meeting, though most still expect it to

remain on hold.

Fed funds futures are pricing a 22.7% probability of a

25-basis-point cut at ​the two-day meeting that ends on March 18,

compared with a 9.4% chance a day earlier, according to the CME

Group's FedWatch tool.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's

strength against a basket of six currencies, was flat at 97.92.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond fell 2.8 basis

points to 4.18%.

The yen rallied 0.2% to 156.75 against the dollar and

Japanese government bonds attracted buyers across the ‍curve

ahead of Sunday's election.

In energy markets, Brent crude edged up 0.2% to

$67.71.