* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.5%
* Wall Street futures gauges point to early gains
* AstraZeneca recovers losses after vaccine pause, down 0.6%
* German bond yields fall
* Brexit fears push pound to 6-week low
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
(Updates prices throughout)
By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Shares on Wednesday shrugged off
heavy losses for U.S. tech stocks and a major drugmaker delaying
testing of a coronavirus vaccine, as investors kept faith in an
economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The broad Euro STOXX 600 .STOXX gained 0.5%, steadying
after a hefty decline a day earlier, sparked by a rout of a U.S.
tech sector that has been a key driver of the stunning recovery
for global stocks from coronavirus-induced lows.
Wall Street futures ESc1 NQc1 were pointing to a bounce
for the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500, up 1.8% and 0.7%
respectively.
London shares .FTSE gained 0.7%, helped by a pound
buffeted by worries about a no-deal Brexit that could hit
Britain's economy. Indexes in Frankfurt .GDAXI and Paris
.FCHI also gained.
Utilities .SX6P , telecoms .SXKP and healthcare .SXDP
all rose by between 0.6%-2%.
AstraZeneca AZN.L shares fell 1.4% after global trials of
its experimental COVID-19 vaccine were paused due to an
unexplained illness in a study participant. It clawed back
heavier losses incurred in premarket trading. The news had earlier unnerved investors in Asia hoping that
the quick introduction of a vaccine would accelerate the
recovery for global economies ravaged by the pandemic.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS slid 1%, with indexes in Australia .AXJO ,
China .CSI300 and Japan .N225 all skidding.
The Japanese yen JPY=EBS climbed to a one-week high as
investors sought safety, before giving up some of its gains to
last stand 0.1% up at 106.13 per dollar.
With Big Tech one of the biggest main winners in the global
recovery from the coronavirus, benefiting from stay-at-home
spenders, investors were mostly sanguine about the sector's
prospects, even after the bruising sell-off.
The Nasdaq has shed $1.5 trillion since its Sept. 2 high.
"This has been a correction that was probably not that
surprising, given the move in August in the tech sector," said
Salman Baig, an investment manager at Unigestion, adding that
the outlook for Big Tech was positive.
"It's exactly those companies that are new economy - they
are benefiting because of their model, the industry, the virus."
Those attributes have sparked heavy bets from the likes of
SoftBank, which has traded heavily in tech stocks call options.
The bets have unnerved investors worried about its exposure
to the sector. SoftBank Group 9984.T shares lost 3% in Tokyo,
extending this week's slump that has wiped $15 billion from its
market capitalisation. The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in nearly 50 countries, was down 0.2%.
Despite renewed appetite for stocks, safe-haven German
government bond yields DE10IT10=RR fell to their lowest in
two-weeks. The fall in tech shares also boosted demand for U.S.
Treasuries, even though heavy supply this week is expected to
weigh on the bonds.
VACCINE "BLOW"
The remarkable rally in global shares from their March lows
has been driven in part by expectations that a COVID-19 vaccine
would be found, helping to accelerate the economic recovery from
the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet AstraZeneca's move dims prospects for an early rollout
of its vaccine, described by the World Health Organization as
probably the world's leading candidate and the most advanced in
terms of development.
Deutsche Bank strategists called the suspension of the
trials "a blow".
Elsewhere, sterling GBP=D3 was stalked by fears that
Britain is preparing to undercut its Brexit divorce treaty.
Britain will set out later on Wednesday new details of its
blueprint for life outside the European Union, publishing
legislation a minister acknowledged would break international
law and which could sour trade talks. Sterling dipped 0.4% to $1.2928, its lowest since the end of
July, and also fell the same amount against the euro EURGBP=D3
to 90.70 pence, its lowest for six weeks. One-month implied
volatility also hit its highest level in nearly five months.
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(For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
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Reporting by Tom Wilson
Editing by Alexandra Hudson)