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* STOXX 600 down 0.5%; auto stocks lead sectoral declines

* Wise bottoms STOXX 600 on lower income growth forecast

* JPM places Lufthansa on negative catalyst watch, shares down

June 13 (Reuters) - European equities lost ground on Thursday, weighed down by elevated government bond yields after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut its interest rate cut projections to just one this year.

The continent-wide STOXX 600 was down 0.5% as of 0828 GMT, after closing around 1% higher in the previous session.

The Fed held interest rates steady on Wednesday and pushed out the start of rate cuts to perhaps as late as December, with the central bankers projecting only one quarter-point rate cut this year from three projected in March.

Bond yields across the euro zone rose, with the benchmark German 10-year bund yield last seen at 2.556%.

European equities have pulled back from last week's record highs hit on the back of the European Central Bank's rate cut, as investors assessed France's political uncertainty.

"The political situation is not supportive of appetite in the European stocks, and the uncertainty is pushing the European yields higher and they are growing wider from each other," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.

Separately, global index compiler MSCI decided on Wednesday not to include the European Union's debt in its government bond indexes.

Most sectors traded lower, with rate-sensitive real estate down 0.6%.

Auto stocks lost 2% and led sectoral declines. Milan-listed shares of Stellantis fell 2.6% as the world's fourth-largest automaker maintained its 2024 financial forecasts.

The stock was among top losers on Italy's FTSE MIB index , which fell 1.1%.

Among other stocks, Wise sank 16.1% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the British money transfer company forecast a 15%-20% growth in its underlying income this year, a slowdown on the 31% seen in the year to end-March.

Shares of Lufthansa slid 5.2% as J.P.Morgan placed the German flagship carrier on a negative catalyst watch.

Meanwhile, BT gained 2.4% after Mexican magnate Carlos Slim took a 3.16% stake in Britain's largest broadband and mobile operator. (Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Varun H K)