Yen rises, stocks fall after report China preparing trade tariff retaliation

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - The Japanese yen rose, while stocks and government bond yields fell on Wednesday after a report in the Wall Street Journal that China is planning counter measures against U.S. trade tariffs.

The yen, which investors tend to buy in times of risk aversion, jumped against the dollar after the report was published. It spiked to as strong as 106.07 yen versus the dollar before settling at 106.25 yen, up 0.3 percent on the day. The Japanese currency briefly rose against the euro .

Safe-haven European bond yields also fell, trimming earlier rises. The 10-year German Bund yield was last up just 1 basis point on the day at 0.59 percent, while British government bond futures pared hefty early losses by around 10 ticks.

European stocks fell sharply on the news. The pan-European STOXX 600 was last down 0.2 percent, while U.S. stock futures dropped. U.S. stock futures dropped, indicating a lower open on Wall Street. (Reporting by the London Markets Team Editing by Tommy Wilkes)