Global stocks fall, yen jumps after China rout; NYSE trading halted

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World markets were shaken on Wednesday by a halt in New York Stock Exchange trading due to technical difficulties, a crash in Chinese stocks and lingering concerns over the future of Greece in the euro zone.

U.S. stocks were down 1 percent, with NYSE-listed issues continuing to trade on other exchanges, such as those run by Nasdaq OMX Group and BATS Global Markets.

The NYSE Group, which includes the New York Stock Exchange, said the suspension was not due to a cyber breach.

"Everybody is proceeding but proceeding with a lot of caution," said Larry Peruzzi, senior equity trader at Cabrera Capital Markets Inc in Boston.

Chinese shares plunged 6.75 percent overnight <.CSI300> and securities regulators there warned investors were being gripped by "panic sentiment."

More than 30 percent has been knocked off the value of Chinese shares since mid-June, and investors are worried China's market turmoil could destabilize the global economy.

The yen rose to a six-week high against the dollar as investors sought safe-haven assets.

Commodities stabilized, with benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange trading higher after earlier hitting a six-year low of $5,240 a tonne on worries about demand in top consumer China.

Markets had little reaction to the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's last meeting, which showed Fed officials needed to see more signs of a strengthening U.S. economy before raising interest rates.

MSCI's all-country equities world index <.MIWD00000PUS> lost 0.9 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 172.43 points, or 0.97 percent, to 17,604.48.

The S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 23.29 points, or 1.12 percent, to 2,058.05 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 61.48 points, or 1.23 percent, to 4,935.98.

In Asia, Hong Kong shares <.HIS> dropped 8 percent, and Japan's Nikkei <.N225> and stocks in Australia <.AXJO> took heavy blows, leaving investors only the yen and safe-haven government bonds for refuge.

European shares <.FTEU3> ended up 0.1 percent, snapping a four-day losing streak.

In addition to China, eyes are still also on Greece, which made a formal request for a three-year loan deal from the euro zone rescue fund.

The bloc's leaders on Tuesday gave Athens until the end of the week to come up with proposals for reforms in return for loans. Without the aid, Greece is likely to crash out of Europe's single currency.

Against the dollar, the euro was up 0.4 percent at $1.1050 , while the yen gained as much as 1 percent versus the greenback to 121.31 , its strongest since late May.

SOME COMMODS EDGE UP

Commodity markets, highly exposed to China, were slowly starting to regain their footing.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent at $1,157.22 an ounce. It earlier had slid to a four-month low of just below $1,150 an ounce. [GOL/]

Oil prices were down, however, with U.S. crude down 94 cents at $51.39 a barrel.

The Australian dollar, often used as a liquid proxy for China plays, slumped to a six-year low against the U.S. dollar of $0.7389 .

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note last stood at 2.236 percent, just above its U.S. close of 2.231 percent on Tuesday, when it had also dropped to a five-week low of 2.185 percent. [US/]

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones in London Editing by Ruth Pitchford and Meredith Mazzilli)

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