FOREX-Dollar on defensive as risk appetite ebbs on tumbling equities

* Dollar on defensive vs safe havens such as yen, Swiss franc

* Aussie remains on the front foot after Thursday's big rally

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The dollar was on the defensive against the euro and yen on Friday as risk appetite receded amid a tumble in equities to pull the greenback further away from its recent highs.

The dollar fetched 122.60 yen after capping off three straight days of losses on Thursday. It had scaled a 2-1/2-month high of 123.60 early this week after a bullish U.S. jobs report heightened prospects of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates in December.

The dollar also sank against the Swiss franc. The dollar to lose ground against safe havens such as the franc and yen when investor appetite for risk weakens.

Wall Street saw its worst session in over a month on overnight on lower commodity prices and comments by New York Fed President William Dudley that gave the latest round of hints at an approaching rate hike.

"Prospects of a December rate hike were initially supportive for the dollar, as seen in the rally early this week, as it also entailed a surge in risk assets," said Junichi Ishikawa, market analyst at IG Securities in Tokyo.

"But the dollar is beginning to flag as risk assets are beginning to show negative reactions to the potential for higher rates."

The euro, which was hit earlier on Thursday by dovish-sounding comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, benefited from the broad dollar weakness.

The euro stood little changed at $1.0806 after sinking to as low as $1.0691 on Draghi's comments, who singled out the currency's more robust performance since May as one driver for a "weakening" outlook on inflation.

The Australian dollar, which soared on Thursday thanks a much stronger-than-expected local jobs report, remained on the front foot.

The Aussie nudged up 0.1 percent to $0.7134 after rallying more than 1 percent on Thursday.

(Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Eric Meijer)

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