(Corrects spelling of 'concerns' in headline)
* Euro looks to test $1.40 resistance level
* Ukraine, China slowdown and copper rout sap risk appetite
* Russian shares slide to lowest in over 4 years
* Gold hits 6-month high; euro, Swiss franc 2 1/2-year high vs dollar
By Alistair Smout
LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - The euro hit a new 2-1/2 year high against the dollar on Thursday as concerns over China's economy and international tensions over Ukraine took the fizz out of an attempted rebound in riskier assets.
U.S. stock index futures pointed to a stronger start on Wall Street than in Europe or Asia, however, with the S&P 500
The euro reached $1.3967 and looked set to test psychological resistance at a $1.40, in a sign that the currency may be regaining safe-haven status as the euro zone starts to recover from its prolonged sovereign debt crisis.
The euro zone economy seems to be picking up steam and investors are betting that the European Central Bank will not ease policy further to counter deflation risks, even though ECB policymaker Benoit Coeure reiterated the bank's readiness to act if real interest rates didn't fall.
"The policy messages and data support the euro and we think that will allow it to continue to push higher from here," said Ian Stannard, a strategist at Morgan Stanley in London.
More traditional safe-havens also strengthened, with the Swiss franc
Stock markets in Europe were flat, pinned near one-month lows, with the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300
The move echoed trading in Asia, where MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
Soft Chinese data dented many markets. Japan's Nikkei
China's industrial output growth came in below forecasts for the combined January/February period, with retail sales also weaker than expected, stoking worries that growth could slow as Beijing pushes for economic reforms.
"The China economy is slowing quite sharply, in our view... (although) the lack of inflation and slowing growth does open the door for policy easing," Gerard Lane, equity strategist at Shore Capital, said in a note.
The MSCI All-Country World index
A major victim of concerns over China, copper
After a tumble in copper of around 7.5 percent so far this month, investors are worried about a possible unravelling of Chinese loan deals using the metal - whose many industrial uses make it sensitive to global economic health - as collateral.
The diplomatic stalemate between Russia and the West over Crimea also supported safe haven assets.
Russia's RTS stock index
Gold hit a six-month high of $1,374.85
The European Union agreed on a framework on Wednesday for its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War.
"Markets are nervous over China and Ukraine, with the latter weighing the most because of the uncertainty of what will happen next and the seeming lack of any coordinated or effective response," Titan Investment Partners trader Darren Sinden said.
Geopolitical tension also supported oil. The European benchmark Brent
U.S. crude futures
In debt markets, Irish government bond yields hit new record lows before Dublin's first regular debt auction since its 2010 bailout, seen as a post-crisis watershed for the country.
Ireland's successful return to regular bond auctions was undermined, however, by GDP data just half an hour later which showed a shock 2.3 percent decline in the fourth quarter.
(Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia and Patrick Graham in London and Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by Catherine Evans/Ruth Pitchford)
((alistair.smout@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 207 542 7064)(Reuters Messaging: alistair.smout.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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Keywords: MARKETS GLOBAL/