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* European stocks, U.S. futures dip amid risk-off mood
* Hong Kong benchmark falls 2.3% on China gaming crackdown
* Dollar steady, euro nudges up as ECB reduces bond buying
* Oil steady, aluminium perched at 13-year high, gold dips
By Marc Jones
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Euro zone bonds were on course
for their best day in months on Thursday as the European Central
Bank took its first tentative step in withdrawing COVID-era
stimulus, though stocks were kept back after Beijing took
another swipe at its tech giants.
Europe's STOXX 600 was still in the red after the
ECB announced it was slowing its 80 billion euro-a-month PEPP
programme. But it was off earlier lows as there seemed some
comfort that, with inflation in the euro zone now at a 10-year
high, it hadn't gone further.
After ECB Chief Christine Lagarde's news conference had
fleshed out the decision, equities edged away from earlier lows,
the euro consolidated a modest 0.2% rise against the dollar,
while bond markets cheered by sending French 10-yields negative
again.
"I think it has been largely priced by the market," said
AXA Group Chief Economist Gilles Moec.
He had been waiting to see if Lagarde would hint at any
potential end date for its PEPP programme, but she instead
channelled the spirit of former British Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher, saying: "The lady isn't tapering."
Germany's 10-year yield, the benchmark for the bloc, dropped
back to -0.31% in its biggest move since July. Italy's 10-year
yield slid 5 basis points in its biggest fall since late May,
while the euro climbed for the first time in four days to be
worth $1.1827.
CAUTION! FRAGILE CHINA
Back in the equity markets it wasn't just about the ECB.
U.S. stock futures, the S&P 500 e-minis, were down
0.1% after falls from Apple and Facebook on Wednesday and after
one of the Federal Reserve's policymakers had urged the central
bank to get on with its own stimulus wind-down plans.
The UK's FTSE 100 was leading Europe's losses as
low-cost airline easyJet tumbled nearly 10% as it tapped
shareholders for 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion).
The broader travel sector was down as much as 1.8%.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares
ended down 1%, which was its worst daily performance since Aug.
19, the last time markets decided they were worried about the
U.S. Federal Reserve tapering its massive asset purchase
programme.
China bears were once again the reason. Chinese tech giants
Tencent, NetEase and Alibaba had slumped 8.5%, 11% and 6%
respectively after online gaming chiefs were summoned by
authorities to check they are sticking to strict new rules for
the sector.
"The global story is looking soft and it's being hit by the
Delta variant plus concern about potentially the Fed still
moving towards a taper," said Rob Carnell, Asia head of research
at ING. "It's an unsettling combination of things."
The China angst had meant Hong Kong, where many
heavyweight Chinese firms are also listed, was among the biggest
fallers, shedding 2.3%.
News that Chinese authorities had told gaming firms to
resolutely curb incorrect tendencies such as focusing "only on
money" and "only on traffic" had hurt companies with large
gaming operations. Tencent fell 8.5%, Bilibili
lost nearly 9% and NetEase slumped 11%.
There was more turbulence too for the country's most
indebted property giant, Evergrande.
Media reports the company would suspend some interest
payments on loans and payments to its wealth management products
sent its shares down more than 10% at one point, although they
recovered almost half of the drop on news that some creditors
had agreed to loan payment extensions.
Korea's Kopsi fell 1.5%, also under pressure from
regulatory scrutiny of local tech players. In Korea's case,
fintech names such as Kakao Corp , which sank 7.2%,
and Naver Corp, down 6.9%, were in the spotlight.
Australian stocks lost nearly 2% after payrolls data
showed a sharp drop in jobs in the first half of August.
It was calmer in the commodities markets. Oil prices were
steady as production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico was slow to come
back on line following Hurricane Ida, while aluminium hit a
13-year high, partly in response to a coup in Guinea, one of the
world's top bauxite producers.
"Political unrest in Guinea has significantly raised the
risk of disruption. At the same time, power shortages and
environmental measures are restricting output in China," ANZ
analysts said in a note.
($1 = 0.7246 pounds)
(Additional reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong
Editing by Jane Merriman and Mark Potter)
