* Dollar, yen gain as investors trim risk exposure
* Shares, commodities fall, weighing further on sentiment
* Higher risk FX down sharply; kiwi falls 2 pct vs yen
(Updates prices; changes byline, dateline; previous TOKYO)
By Jessica Mortimer
LONDON, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The dollar and the yen rose on
Thursday as equity and commodity markets fell, encouraging
investors to pare back exposure to risk and buy back the two
low-yielders against perceived riskier currencies.
The higher yielding Australian and New Zealand dollars fell
sharply as traders took profit from riskier carry trades, with
the kiwi dollar losing 2 percent against the yen.
European equities <> were down 0.2 percent, while oil
<CLc1> and gold <XAU=> prices fell, weighing on sentiment.
Analysts said some investors were already taking risk off the
table heading into the year end.
"Falling equities and risk aversion have been supporting the
dollar and the yen, while the higher-yielders have been pulling
back," said Niels Christensen, currency strategist at Nordea in
Copenhagen.
"The focus is very much on risk sentiment because we don't
have any major events on the agenda, plus the market is a little
more sensitive going into the year-end, with people wanting to
protect their positions," he said.
At 0917 GMT, the dollar index <.DXY>, a measure of its
performance against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.4
percent to 75.476, taking it further above a 15-month low of
74.679 hit on Tuesday.
The euro fell 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.4865
<EUR=> and by 1 percent versus the yen <EURJPY=R> to 132.37 yen,
approaching key technical support at the 200-day moving average
around 132.0 yen.
The euro climbed more than half a percent against the dollar
on Wednesday but struggled on Thursday to break back above
$1.5000 and forge new highs for the year above $1.5064.
The Australian dollar fell 1 percent <AUD=D4> to $0.9186,
with the currency remaining under pressure after expectations
for a December rate hike recently cooled.
KIWI TUMBLES
The New Zealand dollar was the most underperforming
currency, losing 2.0 percent versus its U.S. counterpart to
$0.7328 <NZD=D4> and 2 percent <NZDJPY=R> to 65.27 yen.
Analysts said comments from the main opposition party leader
in New Zealand that it would seek to change a policy that sets
the central bank's main role as controlling inflation through
interest rate moves added to the kiwi's fall. []
"The world markets have become quite long in kiwi dollar as
they have in Aussie. When you have a little scare, it flushes a
lot of long positions out," said Imre Speizer, strategist at
Westpac in Tokyo.
Markets were also watching steps to tighten controls on
capital in emerging markets such as Brazil and South Korea,
although South Korea said its new measures were aimed at
boosting the soundness of banks' assets and not at FX
volatility. [] []
Elsewhere, the dollar fell 0.4 percent against the yen
<JPY=> to 89.00 yen.
It remains firmly in a downtrend against the Japanese
currency stemming back to April this year, and dealers do not
rule out a test of its October low of 88.01.
The market will watch U.S. jobless benefit claims for the
week ended Nov. 14, due at 1330 GMT, to see if the labour market
is stabilising. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 505,000
new filings compared with 502,000 the week before.
St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said
on Wednesday the Fed may start tightening financial conditions
by selling assets it has accumulated rather than raising
interest rates. []
(Additional reporting by Charlotte Cooper in Tokyo, editing
by Nigel Stephenson)
