* LME copper falls to 10-month low as base metals slip * Copper down 3.3 pct on LME, 4.3 pct on ShFE * Fed warns of "significant" dangers to U.S. economy * HSBC flash PMI dipped to 49.4 in Sept from Aug's 49.9 * Coming up: U.S. Leading indicators, Aug; 1400 GMT (Updates prices, adds quotes and details) By Jane Lee SINGAPORE, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Copper fell on Thursday, along with other commodities and Asian equities, after the U.S. Federal Reserve warned of "significant" dangers to the world's largest economy and on gloomy data out of China. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange tumbled as much as 3.3 percent to a 10-month low of $8,028.75 a tonne by 0722 GMT. The most-active December copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SCFc3 closed 4.3 percent lower at 60,260 yuan a tonne. It is down 16 percent this year. "Sentiment was mostly pulled down by the Fed's speech overnight. They didn't unveil a QE3 and highlighted the risks within the U.S. economy on top of it. Macroeconomics news is just very negatively lately, which weighed heavily on copper even though its fundamentals are steady," CRU analyst Qu Yi. "I haven't seen a lot of support from Chinese buying in terms of spot demand for ShFE copper. The front-month contract is trading at a premium to the December contract only due to the sharp declines in the December contract," she added. The Fed's comment came as it unveiled a $400 billion long-term debt purchase plan. Investors disappointed with the stimulus program sold off commodities, which were also weighed down by a firmer dollar. China's factory sector contracted for a third consecutive month in September as flagging overseas demand put the brakes on new orders, HSBC's China Flash PMI showed on Thursday. "Commodities will stay volatile in the short term until they each find some consolidation in a new technical range," said CIFCO analyst Zhou Jie. "If LME copper breaches its support at $8,000, I fear there will be more downside risks from here." Concern that the debt crisis may weaken the euro zone's banking industry remained in the market, even after Greece introduced more austerity measures to obtain the release of its next bailout package next month. In fundamental news, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said it was unlikely to meet its third-quarter sales estimates because of a strike at its vast Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Chinese copper imports jumped 21 percent on the month in August, although they were still down by nearly 12 percent from the same month a year ago. Base metals fell across the board on the LME, with the three-month tin contract being the biggest loser, diving 7.6 percent to $20,000 per tonne at one point, the lowest level since Aug. 12, 2010. The most-active November Shanghai lead contract SPBcv1, introduced in March this year, shed almost 6 percent in the session to a record low of 15,020 yuan. The commodity pared losses to close at 15,245 yuan, 4.6 percent below the previous day's close. Base metals prices at 0722 GMT Metal Last Change Pct Move YTD pct chg LME Cu 8028.75 -271.25 -3.27 -16.37 SHFE CU FUT DEC1 60260 -2680 -4.26 -16.13 LME Alum 2292.00 -26.00 -1.12 -7.21 SHFE AL FUT DEC1 16980 -180 -1.05 0.83 HG COPPER DEC1 363.15 -13.25 -3.52 -18.20 LME Zinc 2034.25 -41.75 -2.01 -17.10 SHFE ZN FUT DEC1 15855 -600 -3.65 -18.59 LME Nickel 19880.00 -520.00 -2.55 -19.68 LME Lead 2192.00 -28.00 -1.26 -14.04 LME Tin 20505.00 -1145.00 -5.29 -23.77 LME/Shanghai arb -221 Shanghai and COMEX contracts show most active months ^ LME 3-m copper in yuan, including 17 pct VAT, minus SHFE third month (Additional reporting by Carrie Ho in SHANGHAI; Editing by Michael Urquhart)

Source