* US gold falls more than 1 pct; US silver tumbles 6 pct * Recession fear grips investors; equities, commodities deserted * Coming up: US ECRI weekly index for September; 1430 GMT (Adds comment; updates prices) By Jane Lee and Rujun Shen SINGAPORE, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Gold prices dipped 1 percent on Friday, headed for their sharpest weekly loss since May, amid a sell-off in commodities sparked by fears the global economy could plunge back into a recession. The base metals complex suffered most from investors' rush to exit, spearheaded by a 14 percent loss in London tin prices. Asian stock markets also slid and emerging market currencies fell amid fears the developed world was stumbling back into recession. The world's major economies pledged to prevent Europe's debt crisis from undermining banks and financial markets, and said the euro zone's rescue fund would be bolstered. The news came a day after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned of significant downside risks for economic growth, which triggered a sell-off in equities and commodities. Spot gold fell as much as 0.9 percent to a one-month low of $1,719.8 an ounce, but quickly recovered to trade up 0.4 percent to $1,742.79 by 0708 GMT. U.S. gold GCcv1 shed more than 1 percent to $1,722.3, its lowest since Aug. 25. It stood at $1,746.20, headed for a 3.8 percent loss from a week earlier, its sharpest weekly loss since May. Traders blamed the earlier trough to distress selling of investors who have grown increasingly uncomfortable with the turmoil on the credit market. "More and more it seems that the commodity market is dependent on cash being free and easy," said a Singapore-based trader, "And cash isn't free and easy." "There's a lot of concern over holding exposure to very volatile assets, when funding is so difficult and people generally are more inclined to be in cash." The next immediate support for gold would be $1,700, and $1,650 if that was breached, traders and analysts said. Lower prices could potentially attract bargain hunters and physical buying interest. Spot gold is expected to consolidate between $1,680 and $1,920 per ounce over the next three months before resuming its long-term uptrend, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. Silver prices tracked losses in industrial metals. Spot silver fell more than 4 percent to $34.22, its lowest since July 5, and trimmed losses to $35.25 U.S. silver SIcv1 tumbled more than 6 percent to $34.32, headed for a weekly loss of 15 percent -- its sharpest weekly decline since early May. The dollar index edged down 0.4 percent on Friday, but was holding close to a seven-month high hit in the previous session, after investors fled commodities to the perceived safety of Treasuries. "The dollar has strengthened in all of this and everyone is de-risking and putting money into the dollar because of the deteriorating economic outlook," said Soozhana Choi, head of commodity research in Asia at Deutsche Bank in Singapore. "We saw massive de-risking across the board, and gold as well as other commodities weren't unscathed." Precious metals prices 0708 GMT Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume Spot Gold 1742.79 7.46 +0.43 22.78 Spot Silver 35.25 -0.51 -1.43 14.23 Spot Platinum 1700.49 20.69 +1.23 -3.79 Spot Palladium 649.72 9.14 +1.43 -18.73 TOCOM Gold 4280.00 -99.00 -2.26 14.78 56283 TOCOM Platinum 4187.00 -151.00 -3.48 -10.84 7078 TOCOM Silver 87.30 -9.40 -9.72 7.78 1027 TOCOM Palladium 1621.00 -76.00 -4.48 -22.70 651 COMEX GOLD DEC1 1746.20 4.50 +0.26 22.85 30917 COMEX SILVER DEC1 35.32 -1.26 -3.44 14.16 10470 Euro/Dollar 1.3516 Dollar/Yen 76.24 TOCOM prices in yen per gram. Spot prices in $ per ounce. COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months

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