* Chinese stocks slide 6 percent
* Oil, copper at 6-yr lows
* Fed liftoff debate intensifies
By Jamie McGeever
LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Tuesday, with
European markets buckling under heavy selling pressure carried
over from Asia after Chinese shares slumped 6 percent and
emerging market currencies and oil prices remained anchored at
historic lows.
A broad measure of Asian stocks fell to its lowest in two
years and U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower open on Wall
Street SPc1 .
"European equity markets are taking their cues from China,
and traders' suspicion is that the second largest economy in the
world is heading for a hard landing," said David Madden, market
commentator at IG in London.
"The more the Chinese government intervenes, the more
traders want to dump stock and head for the exit. The mood in
London is that the party is over in China."
With the Federal Reserve also seemingly close to raising
U.S. interest rates, developed stock markets struggled to stay
out of the red.
The FTSEuroFirst index of 300 leading shares fell 0.3
percent in early trading .FTEU3 , Germany's .GDAXI fell a
quarter of a percent and France's CAC 40 .FCHI was down a
third of a percent. Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.2 percent
.FTSE .
Earlier, China's main Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen 300
indices both lost 6.2 percent .SSEC .CSI300 as investors
drew in their horns and bet that demand in China will cool
further, weighing on the trade-reliant region.
The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1 percent to its lowest since August
2013. Japan's Nikkei .N225 dipped 0.3 percent.
Thai shares .SET hit a 1-1/2-year low and the baht fell to
six-year low after a bomb blast in Bangkok on Monday killed 19
people, including three foreign tourists. ID:nL3N10S43X
DOCTOR COPPER
The worries over China came amid a relatively calm day in
yuan trading after Beijing fixed the currency's exchange rate at
a marginally higher level for the third straight session.
China's central bank on Tuesday set the yuan's midpoint
CNY=SAEC near Monday's closing price at 6.3966 per dollar. But
the yuan fell slightly in the spot market to 6.4090 CNY=CFXS ,
raising some concerns that it could fall further.
Emerging market currencies were weak across the board. The
Turkish lira hit a record low TRY= and the South African rand
slid to a 14-year low ZAR= against a firm dollar.
"The weakness of sentiment in emerging market FX is
striking," Societe Generale (PARIS:SOGN) currency strategists in a note to
clients on Tuesday.
"Fear of a resumption of significant capital outflows if the
Fed does raise rates next month as well as fear of further yuan
weakness and concern about the sluggish pace of global growth
are all delivering persistent broad-based weakness."
Major currency markets were more stable, with the euro
little changed at $1.1085 EUR= and the dollar steady against
the yen at 124.30 yen JPY= .
Strong U.S. housing data on Monday offset the weakest
performance of New York regional manufacturing since the Great
Recession, leaving many market players scratching their heads on
the state of the U.S. economy and when the Fed will begin
raising rates. ID:nL1N10S0J8 ID:nN9N10A01S
Markets are still not fully convinced the Fed will raise
rates in September, but most investors are betting a rate hike
will occur by the end of year. The U.S. 10-year yield was 1
basis point lower on Tuesday at 2.14 percent US10YT=RR .
Commodity prices remained under pressure from worries about
slower growth in China. Brent oil futures LCOc1 fell 0.7
percent to $48.35 per barrel, edging closer to a six-month
intraday low of $48.24 touched last week.
U.S. crude futures fell 0.8 percent to $41.49 CLc1 , within
15 cents of making a new six and a half year low.
Copper futures CMCU3 fell 1.9 percent to $5,020.0 per tonne,
a fresh six-year low.