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* European stocks boosted by upbeat earnings
* China blue-chip index closes up 0.2%
* Yuan edges back from three-month lows
* Dollar makes marginal gains
* Fed statement due at 2 p.m. EDT
By Tom Arnold
LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Global equities regained some
poise on Wednesday as a storm in Chinese stocks showed signs of
easing, while the dollar made modest gains as investors awaited
a Federal Reserve meeting.
After two sessions of falls, Europe's pan-continent STOXX
600 index added 0.3%, helped by encouraging earnings
reports from Barclays, Deutsche Bank and
French luxury group Kering.
That gave investors some relief from worrying about China
after a wave of heavy selling in recent days on the back of
broadening regulatory crackdowns.
The rout appeared to slow on Wednesday as Chinese blue chips
closed up 0.2%, but the Shanghai Composite Index
ended 0.6% down, its lowest close since March 10.
After Asian markets closed, focus quickly turned to the Fed.
Investors are primed for any hints on when the central bank
will start reducing its purchases of government bonds and any
new insight into its views on inflation and economic growth.
"In the background, you have the ripple effect of the
Chinese crackdown and a lot of companies reporting today, but
the Fed is the major event," said Francois Savary, chief
investment officer at Swiss wealth manager Prime Partners.
"Are we going to get a timetable on tapering? Is it going to
be clearly announced?"
The statement from the Fed policy meeting is due at 2 p.m.
EDT (1800 GMT), with a news conference by Chairman Jerome Powell
expected half an hour later.
In U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were 0.1%
higher, signalling a recovery on Wall Street after stocks on
Tuesday retreated a little from the record highs set earlier in
the week as ripples from China spread.
In U.S. trading, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China benchmark of
Chinese tech stocks listed in New York fell another 6%, taking
its losses since Friday past 20% and wiping $500 billion off its
value.
Chinese state-run financial media urged calm on Wednesday
after a roiling of stocks in the technology, property and
education sectors in recent days.
Hong Kong's benchmark added 1.5%, but remained near
nine-month lows.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
was 0.3% firmer after three straight sessions of
losses.
"The moves are being driven by general risk appetite. On
Monday and Tuesday Chinese stocks led everything lower but today
there is a bit of pause for assessment," said Colin Asher,
senior economist at Mizuho in London.
"There were question marks over the global implications of
the recent moves by Chinese authorities but the macro impact on
most countries is limited."
With investors holding off on major bets before the Fed
meeting, the dollar made marginal gains after earlier being
pinned down by demand for safe-haven currencies.
The U.S. dollar index moved into positive territory
after trading lower in Asian hours, with the greenback last up
0.1% at 92.575.
The currency has had a month-long rally after a hawkish
shift from the Fed in June.
The Chinese yuan edged back from three-month lows.
It had its worst day since October on Tuesday.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes
strengthened to 1.2644%, up from the U.S. close of 1.234%.
Greek government bond yields hit new lows on Wednesday as
the promise of more central bank largesse to counter the Delta
coronavirus variant pushed up demand for even the lowest rated
euro zone countries.
Greece's benchmark 10-year government bond yield
dropped a basis point to a seven-month low of 0.61%.
Oil prices rose as industry data showed U.S. crude and
product inventories fell more sharply than expected last week,
outweighing worries that surging COVID-19 cases would curb fuel
demand.
U.S. crude rose 0.52% to $72.02 a barrel and Brent
crude rose 0.31% to $74.71 per barrel.
Gold held steady, with spot prices flat at $1,797.97
near the key psychological level of $1,800, while Bitcoin
rose around 3.2%, trading just above $40,000.
(Reporting by Tom Arnold in London and Alun John in Hong Kong;
Additional reporting by Sujata Rao; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da
Costa, Kim Coghill, Catherine Evans and Timothy Heritage)
