* Valeo says 2015 margin to beat 7.4 pct
* Says China outlook supported by local brands
* Shares fall amid wider selloff (Adds comment, details, background, shares)
By Laurence Frost
PARIS, July 27 (Reuters) - French car parts maker Valeo raised its profit outlook on Monday, playing down the impact of a Chinese market slowdown after a record first-half order intake boosted by demand for driving-assistance and fuel-saving technologies.
Net income rose 34 percent to 344 million euros ($379 million), it said, as sales kept up the 15 percent growth of the first quarter to reach 7.298 billion for January-June.
But Valeo shares tumbled in a broader market selloff, with investors cashing in on a robust recent performance that had seen the stock gain 31 percent over 12 months.
Helped by a weaker euro, sales outstripped the 7.183 billion euros expected by analysts, based on the mean of 16 estimates polled by Thomson Reuters.
Valeo, the maker of fuel-saving stop-and-start engine technologies and automated parking systems, is well placed to benefit from tightening limits on carbon dioxide emissions and increasingly autonomous vehicles.
Orders rose 18 percent to a record 10.7 billion euros, reflecting the "success of technologies developed by the group for CO2 emissions and intuitive driving", Chief Executive Jacques Aschenbroich said.
But China, where auto-market growth is slowing, accounted for a quarter of the new business, underscoring the industry's vulnerability to an Asian slowdown.
Valeo is winning more business with domestic Chinese brands that have been gaining ground on foreign competitors, Aschenbroich said: "So there is no negative impact on our Chinese sales or margins."
Valeo shares were down 4.2 percent at 121.20 euros as of 0716 GMT - paring recent gains that have seen the stock almost double the wider European sector's 16.8 percent increase over the past 12 months.
The company pledged to beat its 7.4 percent first-half operating margin in the rest of the year, effectively lifting the 2015 goal. Valeo had previously targeted a "slight increase" on last year's 7.2 percent.
Valeo's visibility systems posted the biggest divisional profit gain, as restructuring resulted in a 49 percent jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization.
Earnings at the comfort and driving assistance division advanced 21 percent, with thermal systems up 15 percent and powertrain rising 13 percent.
Currency effects boosted the value of overseas sales when translated into a weaker euro. At constant exchange rates, group revenue would have risen a more modest 6 percent, Valeo said.
(Additional reporting by Gilles Guillaume; editing by Geert De Clercq and William Hardy)