GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares shrug off U.S. tech sell-off, vaccine trial halt

* Euro STOXX 600 up 0.7%
* AstraZeneca recovers losses after vaccine pause, down 0.6%
* Wall Street futures gauges point to early gains
* Bond yields fall, yen gains
* Graphic: 2020 asset performance http://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgn
* Graphic: World FX rates in 2020 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Tom Wilson
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - European 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 0.7% in early
trading, steadying after hefty declines a day earlier on a rout
of tech shares, a key drivers of the stunning recovery for
global stocks from coronavirus-induced lows.
London shares .FTSE gained 1%, helped by a pound buffeted
by worries about the chance of a no-deal Brexit that could hit
Britain's economy. Indexes in Frankfurt .GDAXI and Paris
.FCHI also gained.
AstraZeneca AZN.L said it has paused global trials of its
experimental COVID-19 vaccine due to an unexplained illness in a
study participant. The news earlier unnerved investors hoping the quick
introduction of a vaccine would help accelerate the recovery for
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.
Bond yields fell and the Japanese yen JPY=EBS climbed to a
one-week high of 105.93 per dollar as investors sought safety.
Still, Wall Street futures gauges ESc1 NQc1 were
pointing to a bounce for the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq, up
0.5% and 1.4% respectively.
The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks
shares in nearly 50 countries, was flat.
With Big Tech the 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 lost $1.5 trillion since hitting a Sept. 2
peak.
"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. 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".
AstraZeneca shares recovered ground after falling heavily in
after-hours U.S. trading, and were last down 0.6%.
Elsewhere, sterling GBP=D3 was stalked by fears that
Britain is preparing to undercut its Brexit divorce treaty.
Britain will set out 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 0.3% to $1.2945, 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.

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(For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock
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Reporting by Tom Wilson)