Markets slump on gloomy growth outlook

By Lionel Laurent

LONDON (Reuters) - Financial and commodities markets slumped on Wednesday after the World Bank cut its growth forecasts for 2015 and 2016, fuelling fears that the benefits of cheaper oil may be offset by anaemic economies and the threat of deflation.

Share prices, commodities and bond yields fell as investors sought safety in government debt and currencies like the Japanese yen. The dollar dropped 1 percent against the yen.

Market nerves were soothed somewhat after a top adviser to the European Union's highest court advised judges to approve a bond-buying plan by the European Central Bank aimed at boosting the struggling euro-zone economy.

The perceived removal of a potential legal roadblock helped push the euro below its 1999 launch rate against the dollar for the first time in more than nine years.

But investor caution was rampant. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 equity index was down 1.2 percent at 1307 GMT, with key national bourses in negative territory, and German Bund yields fell close to a record low of 0.4 percent.

U.S. equity futures were down 0.6 percent after JPMorgan Chase & Co reported a drop in quarterly profit as legal costs exceeded $1 billion. 10-year T-note yields hit their lowest since May 2013.

Oil and metals prices also extended their slide. Copper traded at its lowest in more than half a decade amid a broader commodities rout that dragged mining stocks Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American down 5.7 to 11.9 percent.

"These growth fears are keeping markets busy, and it is linked with the deflation question," said Christian Gattiker, chief strategist and head of research at Bank Julius Baer. "We do have the stress in financial market because it's about the solvency and liquidity of oil producers."

Weak oil prices pushed explorer Premier Oil to say on Wednesday it expected to book a $300 million impairment charge on some of its assets for 2014 due to weak oil prices.

Emerging-market equities underperformed as the Russian rouble fell 1.5 percent against the dollar. Russian stocks extended their losses on the back of the commodities sell-off and a flare-up of violence in eastern Ukraine.

Russia's finance minister warned of a more than $45 billion drop in revenues this year if the average oil price was $50 a barrel.

In Asia-Pacific, Australia's main index fell 1.0 percent, with mining shares taking an added blow.

Seeking to support growth, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved a record $812 billion budget while cutting new borrowing for a third straight year.

The share market seemed underwhelmed, however, and the Nikkei .N225 lost 1.7 percent.

(Additional reporting by Francesco Canepa, Marius Zaharia, Jemima Kelly, Sujata Rao; Editing by Hugh Lawson)