* China stocks rally for 6th straight day on stimulus hopes
* Spreadbetters see European bourses opening slightly higher
* Markets await Fed's policy statement due at 1800 GMT
* Focus is on whether Fed will drop 'patient' from statement
* U.S. crude oil lingers near 6-year low
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, March 18 (Reuters) - Asian stocks shook off a slow start and rose on Wednesday, led by China shares, while the dollar marked time as markets waited for the Federal Reserve's policy statement for clues to when U.S. interest rates will rise.
Following Asia's lead, spreadbetters forecast a slightly higher open for Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX and France's CAC although caution towards the Fed's statement due later in the day was expected to limit gains.
Bouncing back from an earlier dip, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.5 percent.
Chinese shares, already sitting atop multi-year highs, rallied for a sixth straight day. Soft Chinese data failed to dampen sentiment and instead raised hopes Beijing would make fresh stimulus moves.
The Shanghai Composite Index reached its highest since May 2008, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng, South Korea's Kospi and Malaysian and Thai stocks also gained.
Japan's Nikkei erased early losses to rise 0.6 percent and reach a fresh 15-year high. Australian shares also clawed out of the red and were flat.
"We expect to see a tug-of-war between the bulls and the bears," said Hue Frame, senior adviser at Atlantic Pacific Securities in Sydney.
The bulls think there won't be a rate rise in the U.S. this year while the bears see one coming "over the next few months," he said.
The Fed statement is due at 1800 GMT, followed 30 minutes later by a news conference with Chair Janet Yellen.
Financial markets are most interested in whether the U.S. central bank will remove the word "patient" from its remarks on raising rates.
A number of strong U.S. employment reports have increased wagers over the past few weeks on the Fed tightening as early as June.
The prospect of the Fed hiking rates in the U.S. summer and drawing liquidity away from the rest of the world has caused the dollar's peers to tumble and triggered tumult in emerging market equities.
U.S. debt yields have risen, while euro zone bond yields sank to record lows as the European Central Bank implemented its quantitative easing programme.
The Fed meeting "could well produce some passing volatility but have little net impact, given that policy is sure to be on hold, while Chair Yellen should use plenty of caveats on the policy outlook in her press conference," Sean Callow, a senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney, wrote clients.