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A worker at a textile plant in Huaibei, China. A report showed that Chinese manufacturing activity in August fell to a three-year low.Credit CHINATOPIX, via Associated Press

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PARIS — Asia again weighed on global equities on Tuesday, with major indexes falling sharply in the United States and Europe.

Asian markets fell after a report from Beijing showed that Chinese manufacturing activity had slipped in August to a three-year low, with both current production and new orders falling. That added to fears that the world’s second-largest economy, after that of the United States, may be slowing more rapidly than hoped.

Almost an hour into United States trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 2.1 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average had fallen 364 points, or 2.2 percent.

Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned on Tuesday that the world economy would most likely expand at only a “moderate” pace and would probably be weaker than the I.M.F. had forecast just two months ago.

“Asia as a region is still expected to lead global growth,” she said in a speech in Jakarta, Indonesia. “But even here, the pace is turning out slower than expected — with the risk that it may slow even further given the recent spike in global risk aversion and financial market volatility.”

Continue reading the main story Graphic Why China Is Rattling the World China’s economy is faltering, prompting concerns that are now shaking global stock markets.

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The recent turmoil in the Chinese markets has weighed heavily on global stock markets, which have given up 8.4 percent of their value over the past month. Uncertainty about the Federal Reserve’s timing for raising interest rates from their current level of zero has also worried investors, contributing to an outflow of capital from emerging markets.

The Shanghai composite index fell 1.2 percent on Tuesday, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was down 2.2 percent. The Tokyo benchmark, the Nikkei 225 index, lost 3.8 percent.

Peter Attard Montalto, an economist and strategist with Nomura in London, said investors were “still digesting” the shock of the market turmoil in China over the past month, with an additional complication in the form of the recent rebound in oil prices, which he said threatened “to clamp off some support for global recovery.”

“The market is trying to understand what exactly China is up to,” he said, referring to efforts by Beijing to intervene in stock markets. Despite those efforts, stocks in Shanghai have fallen more than 39 percent since mid-June.

“There’s some skepticism about how far any loosening or stimulus can go,” Mr. Montalto said.

Still, Mr. Montalto added that investors might be focusing too much on China and ignoring positive signals elsewhere. “The U.S. G.D.P.numbers from last week show there’s some underlying momentum in the economy,” he said.

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The Euro Stoxx 50, a barometer of leading stocks from France, Germany and elsewhere in the 19-nation euro currency zone, was down 3.1 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 fell 3.2 percent.

European shares declined despite an official report on Tuesday that showed that the jobless rate in the eurozone had slipped by 0.2 of a percentage point in July, to 10.9 percent — the first time it sank below 11 percent since early 2012. While that still leaves about 17.5 million people classified as unemployed, it suggests that the bloc’s modest economic recovery remains on track.

The dollar fell against other major currencies, dropping 1 percent to 119.97 yen; the euro rose 0.5 percent to $1.1270.

Oil prices fell, breaking a three-day winning streak. Futures contracts for the benchmark United States crude fell 1.7 percent to $48.36 a barrel, while Brent futures contracts, the global standard, fell 2.1 percent to $52.99.

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