U.S. stocks seen opening higher

HONG KONG (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures signaled a slightly higher opening on Wednesday as markets appeared ready to shake off declines stemming from a dramatic sell-off in Chinese shares on Tuesday.

Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures were up 2.7 points, while Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 17 points. Nasdaq 100 futures were unchanged, despite deep declines in a broad range of Asian markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average posted its worst decline on a points basis since the aftermath of September 11, 2001, attacks on Tuesday, dropping 3.3 percent as a mainland share slump triggered concerns that equity prices are overheated.

Shanghai's benchmark index fell 9 percent on Tuesday, its highest decline in a decade.

There was no hard news behind the stock drop, but rumors had swirled that Beijing may take serious measures to cool market speculation or raise interest rates ahead of China's National People's Congress annual meeting next week.

Shanghai shares rose on Wednesday by 0.73 percent, but stock markets from Seoul to Singapore fell as much as 5.6 percent on the Chinese share decline and weak U.S. manufacturing data.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 2.9 percent, South Korea's KOSPI was down 3.3 percent and the Singapore Straits Times Index sunk 5.6 percent.