By Nigel Stephenson
LONDON (Reuters) - Deepening concern over the health of the global economy dragged shares in Europe and Japan lower on Tuesday, while the dollar rebounded from big declines the previous day.
With figures showing a slump in demand growth, oil prices fell. Brent crude dropped to below $88 a barrel.
Low-risk government bonds were in demand. U.S. 30-year Treasury yields fell below 3 percent for the first time since early 2013. A slide in German investor sentiment - the latest blow to the euro zone's economic engine - drove yields on the country's 10-year debt <DE10YT=TWEB> to a record low.
UK gilt yields (GB10YT=RR) also dropped after inflation slowed more than expected, leading some investors to add to bets the Bank of England will not raise interest rates until well into 2015.
European shares fell for the seventh session in 10. The FTSEurofirst 300 index (FTEU3) was down 0.9 percent. British luxury brand Burberry (L:BRBY) fell 4.4 percent after warning of worsening conditions in some of its markets.
Smaller rival Mulberry (L:MUL) tumbled 17 percent after warning full-year pre-tax profit would be significantly below expectations.
Tokyo's Nikkei share average (N225) fell 2.4 percent, hitting lows last seen in mid-August, as traders got back to their desks following a holiday on Monday, though other Asian shares fared better. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.3 percent.
Wall Street looked set to open higher, with stock index futures signaling modest gains.
Investors have cut exposure to riskier assets on worries about the U.S. Federal Reserve's ending its bond-buying stimulus later this month, mounting risks of recession in the euro zone and a floundering Japanese economy.
Instead, they turned to low-risk government bonds, the Japanese yen and gold.
"There remains a palpable concern amongst investors that the worst may still be to come. The market is aware that tapering is due to end later this month and they are also aware that that means the next move for the Federal Reserve is to hike interest rates," said Angus Campbell, senior analyst at FxPro in London.
"At a time when global growth is fast becoming a worry, the combination of the two does not sit well with investors."
DOLLAR RISES
The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against a basket of others , rebounded after falling as much as 1 percent on Monday, its largest one-day drop in a year.
The dollar was up 0.8 percent against the euro, which lost further ground after the ZEW index of German investor morale fell below zero for the first time in nearly two years. The euro last traded at $1.2650.
The yen was all but steady at 106.85 to the dollar <JPY=>. Sterling <GBP=> fell as far as $1.5947, an 11-month low.
The divergence in monetary policies in the United States on the one hand and the euro zone, where many expect the European Central Bank to launch an asset-purchase program known as quantitative easing (QE), and Japan on the other helped push the dollar to a two-year high versus the euro and a six-year peak against the yen at the start of October.
U.S. 30-year bonds last yielded 2.94 percent, compared with 3.009 percent at Friday's close. The market was shut on Monday.
German 10-year yields fell as low as 0.847 percent in the wake of the ZEW data.
"Economic concerns are so much in focus now that the risk-off sentiment is more dominant currently than the QE effect," DZ Bank strategist Daniel Lenz said.
Brent crude futures last traded at $87.79 a barrel, down 1.2 percent, having hit a four-year low of $87.74 on Monday.
The International Energy Agency lowered its forecast for oil demand growth in 2015 and said prices may drop further.
Kuwait has said OPEC is unlikely to cut production to support prices, while Saudi Arabia has privately told oil market participants it could be comfortable with $80 per barrel.
Gold retreated from four-week highs as the German data pressured the euro against the dollar. It last traded at $1,233.15 an ounce.
(Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Richard Leong in New York and Patrick Graham and Jamie McGeever in London Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)