*

Asian equities drop sharply following tech-led Wall Street

sell-off

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Sterling pinned near 7-month low as UK's Reeves hints at

tax

hikes

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NZ dollar dips to 12-year low vs Aussie after jobless rate

jumps

(Updates prices ahead of European markets open)

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, Nov 5 (Reuters) -

The risk aversion that blew through foreign-exchange markets

in Asia on Wednesday all but dissipated by the European morning,

with the safe-haven yen erasing gains and Antipodean currencies

up.

The Swiss franc remained higher, and the U.S. dollar held

firm throughout the session after touching the highest since

April 1 at the very end of Tuesday trading.

The risk-sensitive Australian dollar recovered from a

0.5% slide to a multi-week low and was last marginally higher on

the greenback.

The New Zealand dollar -month low unemployment rate

printed at the highest level since 2016,

However, sterling struggled to make any headway,

remaining pinned near a seven-month low after British finance

minister Rachel Reeves on Tuesday hinted at broad tax rises in

her budget later this month.

The risk-off wave that hit

Wall Street

overnight swept through Asian equity markets, triggering

losses of as much as 4.7% for Japan's Nikkei and as much

as 6.2% for South Korea's KOSPI. U.S. losses were

triggered by a tech-led sell-off as worries about stretched

valuations spiralled into a rush for the exits.

"I'd argue that the best framing of yesterday's trade is

one of the market simply taking a bit of a pause for breath, as

opposed to one where the tide is decisively turning against the

bulls, who remain in overall control," said Michael Brown,

senior research strategist at Pepperstone.

"Dips remain buying opportunities in my mind."

The yen gained as much as 0.5% at one point before last

trading flat at 153.62 per dollar. The franc climbed 0.3%

versus the dollar at one point, but was last 0.2%

stronger at 0.8090 franc per greenback.

The dollar index - which measures the currency

against the yen, franc, euro, sterling and two other peers - was

steady at 100.16, after earlier shooting as high as 100.25 at

the end of Tuesday's session.

The dollar has been supported both by haven flows and

declining bets for near-term Federal Reserve interest rate cuts

amid deep divisions among the Fed board members on the correct

path for policy.

Investors and policymakers have also had to contend with a

record-long government shutdown, which has all but halted the

flow of macroeconomic data. This has put a lot of focus on the

private ADP payrolls later on Wednesday.

The dollar was little changed at $1.1486 per euro

after rising 0.3% in the prior session to reach a seven-month

top.

Sterling was stable at $1.3026 following Tuesday's

0.9% slide.

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin rose 1.5% to around

$101,800 after bouncing back from earlier losses. It slid 6.1%

on Tuesday to below $99,000 for the first time since June 22.