Shutterstock photo* Dollar hits 16-month low of 104.635 yen in early Asia
* Turkish lira hits record low of 4.0375 per U.S. dollar
* Stop-loss cross/yen sales, including TRY/JPY cited
* Yen rises broadly on risk aversion (Updates prices, adds comments)
By Masayuki Kitano
SINGAPORE, March 23 (Reuters) - The yen hit a 16-month highagainst the dollar on Friday, while the Turkish lira skidded toa record low, as concerns over rising global trade tensionstriggered a bout of investor risk aversion.
The yen rose broadly amid talk of position unwinding byJapanese retail investors, who had held long positions inhigher-yielding currencies such as the Turkish lira against theJapanese currency.
"It's mainly driven by cross/yen selling and stops fromretail (investors) from what we can see," said Tarek Horchani,head of sales trading in Asia-Pacific for Saxo Markets inSingapore.
"It's a pure risk-off trade," he said, adding that there wasstop-loss selling in cross/yen pairs.
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 dollar waslast down 0.4 percent at 104.90 yenJPY= .
According to Reuters data, the Turkish lira slid by morethan 3 percent against the yen TRYJPY=R early on Friday. Itwas last down 1.2 percent on the day at around 26.41.
Against the U.S. dollar, the lira TRYTOM=D3 fell to arecord low of 4.0375 per dollar at one point. After paring somelosses, the Turkish lira last stood at 3.9680 per dollar.
The broad rise in the yen came after financial markets wererattled by worries over rising U.S.-China trade tensions.
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
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 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.
MSCI's broadest measure of Asia-Pacific equities outsideJapan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 2 percent.
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 129.28 yen. (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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