Shutterstock photo* Dollar hits 16-month low of 104.635 yen in early Asia
* Trump may impose tariffs on up to $60 bln of Chinese goods
* Yen rises broadly on risk aversion
SINGAPORE, March 23 (Reuters) - The yen hit a 16-month highagainst the dollar on Friday as concerns over rising globaltrade tensions triggered a bout of investor risk aversion.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandumon Thursday that will target up to $60 billion in Chinese goodswith tariffs, but only after a 30-day consultation period thatstarts once a list is published. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1QZ0DZ
While his actions appeared to be more of a warning shot thanthe start of a full-blown trade war with Beijing, U.S. equitiesslumped as investors fretted about the potential impact onglobal trade. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1R41TR
The dollar fell to as low as 104.635 yen in early Asiantrade on Friday, the greenback's lowest level since November2016, as the Japanese currency pushed higher.
The yen is often viewed as a safe haven currency in times ofmarket turbulence and economic uncertainty, partly because ofthe resilience provided by Japan's current account surplus.
"The yen continues to be the beneficiary of global riskaversion, and even as we melt through the 105 level like a hotknife through butter, there remain very few reasons not to beshort USDJPY in this environment," Stephen Innes, head oftrading in Asia-Pacific for Oanda in Singapore, wrote in a note.
After paring some of its losses, the dollar was last tradingat 104.95 yenJPY= , down 0.3 percent from late U.S. trade onThursday.
MSCI's broadest measure of Asia-Pacific equities outsideJapan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.7 percent in early Asian trade.
In the wake of Trump's actions, China's commerce ministrysaid on Friday that the country was planning measures against upto $3 billion of U.S. imports to balance U.S. tariffs againstChinese steel and aluminium products. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N1NF00C
The euro also weakened against the yen, hitting a low of128.96 yen EURJPY=R , the euro's lowest level since August2017. The euro later regained some footing and was last down 0.2percent on the day at 129.30 yen.
Against the dollar, the euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.2320EUR= .
The dollar's index against a basket of six major currencieslast traded at 89.718 .DXY . The dollar index has recoveredfrom a one-month low of 89.396 set on Thursday.
Elsewhere, the Hong dollar fell to a new 33-year low onFriday, inching closer to the lower end of the monetaryauthority's targeted trading band as the interest rate gapbetween U.S. dollar rates and its Hong Kong counterpart widenedfurther. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nH9N1QI005
In early Friday trade, the Hong Kong dollar HKD=D3 fell toa new 33-year of 7.8484 per dollar. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; editing by Richard Pullin) ((masayuki.kitano@thomsonreuters.com; +65-6417-4682; ReutersMessaging: masayuki.kitano.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
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