Euroshares open lower on Chinese rate hike fears; miners, insurers fall LONDON - Leading European exchanges moved lower in opening deals as fears of a rate hike in China hit global markets with mining and insurance stocks feeling the brunt of the selling pressure, dealers said. At 08.51, the STOXX 50 was down 40.94 points at 3,811.95 and the STOXX 600 was down 4.46 points at 381.41 In Asia, China-related stocks led the fall on fears that the mainland's A-share markets may be in for a big correction adding to speculation of a further rate hike. The Hang Seng Index ended the morning down 404.71 points or 1.95 pct at 20,372.38, off a low of 20,334.15 and high of 20,634.90. The Nikkei closed down 295.36 points at 17,371.97. Mining stocks underperformed as China's gross domestic product (GDP) growth continued to accelerate, despite tightening measures taken by Beijing and suggesting a further rate hike is inevitable. The China concerns caused panic selling of copper plays, dealers said, amid fears that any slowdown in China's growth will impact on commodity prices. Base metals prices eased in response, with gold futures over 3 usd lower at 690.2 an ounce in Asian trade, and both silver and copper prices also on the back foot. Xstrata and Anglo American shares fell 2.66 pct and 2.7 pct respectively. Rio Tinto was also dragged down by its first quarter production update which showed lower iron ore output in a first quarter, prompting Merrill Lynch to repeat its 'neutral' stance. Rio Tinto said iron ore output in the first quarter of its December year from its Hamersley mines in the Pilbara totaled 23.9 mln metric tons, up 17 pct on the same quarter a year earlier but down 3 pct on the December quarter. Output at the majority-owned Robe River joint venture in the same region totaled 6.5 mln tons, up 8.0 pct on a year earlier but down 12 pct on the December quarter. Among financials, Axa fell 2.44 pct, Allianz fell 1.95 pct as selling pressure on the global markets weighed. Prudential outperformed, though, down only 0.07 pct as the life insurer reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales, with a strong performance in Asia offsetting a continued downturn at its UK division. Prudential, the UK's second-biggest insurer, said total sales for the three months to March 31 2007 came in at 640 mln stg on an annual premium equivalent basis, up 8 pct compared with the same period last year at constant exchange rates. Analysts had expected sales of 613 mln stg, according to a consensus forecast supplied by the company. Converium Holding AG was down 0.23 pct as it reported a first-quarter net profit of 150.9 mln usd, up from 61.6 mln last year, boosted by a tax valuation allowance of 85 mln usd