(Adds details ahead of U.S. open)
* European stocks rise, Wall Street futures up after slump
* Yuan still weak but retreat stalls on firmer-than-expected
fix
* U.S. Treasury 10-year yield edges up from October 2016
lows
* MSCI Asia-Pacific index down 0.75%, Nikkei loses 0.7%
* Asian stock markets: https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A rout in global markets eased on
Tuesday as China kept the yuan on a tight leash after its
landmark drop past 7 to the dollar led the United States to
label Beijing a currency manipulator.
The trade war between the world's top economies remained
close to boiling point, but the heat was reduced enough to
steady some nerves when China's central bank fixed the yuan at a
slightly stronger rate .EU
Asian markets held losses to between 0.75% and 1.5%
overnight. Some encouraging German data helped Europe gain.
Futures were pointing to a 1% rebound after Wall Street suffered
its heaviest fall of the year on Monday. .EU
Safe-haven assets, including bonds, gold and currencies like
the yen and Swiss franc, settled down as investors moved
tentatively back into the euro, pound and some of emerging-
market currencies.
The mood was still fragile, though.
"I think the tipping point for a more prolonged negative
trend (for risk assets) is quite close," said Hans Peterson, SEB
Investment Management's head of asset allocation, referring to
the trade war escalation and other risks such as Brexit.
"We have reduced both European and global equities. We still
have a small overweight in EM (emerging market) stocks but just
a small one."
U.S. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin said on Monday that China was manipulating its currency,
and that Washington would engage the International Monetary Fund
to clamp down on Beijing.
"Officially labelling China a currency manipulator gives the
United States a legitimate reason to take even more steps," said
Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ
Morgan Stanley Securities.
"The markets are now scrambling to factor in the possibility
of the United States imposing not only an additional 10% of
tariffs on Chinese imports, but the figure being raised to 25%.
Goldman Sachs also said it no longer expects a deal to be
struck before the November 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Morgan Stanley said more tit-for-tat tariffs could tip the world
economy into recession by the middle next year.
Though U.S. Treasury yields had edged back up to 1.74% from
October 2016 lows of 1.672%, German yields stayed down at
-0.54%. Markets are now pricing in a 100% chance that the
European Central Bank will cut its already negative interest
rates again next month. ECBWATCH
YUAN TO WATCH
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS had ended down 0.75% after brushing its lowest
since January. It has lost 3.7% so far this week.
The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC retreated 1.4%, while
Japan's Nikkei .N225 shed 0.7%. Australian stocks .AXJO fell
2.4% after metals prices fell and Australia's central bank
resisted cutting interest rates again China's offshore yuan had stretched the previous day's
slide, briefly weakening to 7.1382 CNH=D4 , the lowest since
international trading in the Chinese currency began in 2010. But
it pulled back to 7.0469 after Beijing's firmer-than-expected
fixing on Tuesday.
The Japanese yen, a perceived safe-haven in times of market
turmoil and political tensions, touched a seven-month high of
105.520 per dollar JPY= before dropping back as far as 106.700
in volatile trade. /FRX
The Swiss franc, another currency sought in times of
turmoil, has gained roughly 1% against the dollar this week. It
set a six-week peak of 0.9700 franc per dollar CHF= .
Japan's 10-year bond yield JP10YTN=JBTC fell to a
three-year trough of minus 0.215%.
Brent crude oil futures LCOc1 steadied after dropping to
near a seven-month low of $59.07 per barrel as the trade war
raised concern about lower demand for commodities. Brent last
traded at $59.85 for a modest gain. O/R
Spot gold XAU= stalled after advancing to a six-year peak
of $1,474.80 an ounce as investors sought safety.
"People are just rebalancing their portfolios in favour of
bonds, gold, Japanese yen, Swiss francs and the usual safe
havens," said SP Angel analyst Sergey Raevskiy.
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Onshore Chinese yuan https://tmsnrt.rs/2MFqXZS
World stocks and US 10-year yield https://tmsnrt.rs/2MHiXYj
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