** Biggest US high-yield bond ETF iShares HYG down slightly in early trade as market eyes pressures in junk bond space, credit funds halting redemptions for signs of broader contagion
** HYG falls 1.6 pct in heavy turnover of just over $1 bln and touches 4-yr low of 78.21; SPDR high-yield ETF JNK also down 1.3 pct; main CDX high-yield index hits 3-yr low in price terms
** Options activity also active for a second day, with Dec-Jan 77 put spread on 40,000 contracts going through
** HYG slid Friday on record volume and turnover, with the $4.5 bln of turnover totaling 6x its average daily volume
** Redemptions halts, or "gating", at hedge funds Third Avenue/Stone Lion raise worries that investors may increase redemptions in high-yield or more liquid assets elsewhere
** So far problems remain limited to a few funds that appear to have been caught with very illiquid assets relative to the low-liquidity junk market
** While appearing a very different kind of credit market stress, the moves naturally recall some features of 2007 subprime troubles at start of the financial crisis
** Related (RM: eric.burroughs.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)