(Recasts lead, updates election tally, currency moves)
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars sank against the Japanese yen on Wednesday as financial markets took fright on the prospect of a shock win for Republican Donald Trump in a closely contested U.S. election battle.
Markets see Democrat Hillary Clinton as a safer pair of hands and the candidate of the status quo, while there is a high degree of uncertainty about Trump's policies on geopolitics, trade and immigration.
As of 0440 GMT, Trump was leading Clinton by 35 Electoral College votes, with a tally of 244-209. It takes 270 to win. strides made by Trump took many pundits by surprise and propelled risk-averse investors towards safer havens such as bonds, the yen, Swiss franc and gold.
The Aussie dropped 5.9 percent on the yen AUDJPY= , the biggest fall since May 2010.
It slipped 4 percent on the Swiss francs AUDCHF= and also underperformed against the euro EURAUD= , which soared more 4 percent.
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 fell 2.14 percent against the greenback to hit a 1-1/2 week low of $0.7580. It broke below key chart resistance of 77 U.S. cents in early afternoon trading, after comfortably staying above that level for 3 straight days.
It marked the biggest daily percentage loss for the Aussie since May 3.
"If Trump is declared this afternoon as the winner (it is) sufficient to take the Aussie down to 75 U.S. cents," said Ray Attrill, global co-head of FX strategy, National Australia Bank NAB.AX , Sydney.
"You're clearly going to see emerging market currencies and the Aussie dollar, the New Zealand dollar move in lockstep."
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 skidded 1 percent to $0.7303, following two straight days of gains. It is the Kiwi's biggest drop since Sept.13.
The Kiwi tumbled nearly 5 percent on the yen NZDJPY= while the euro rose more than 3.5 percent on the New Zealand currency EURNZD= .
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand holds its policy meeting on Thursday where it is widely expected to cut interest rates to a record low 1.75 percent. NZ/POLL
New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= fell with yields up about 1 basis point across the curve.
Australian government bond futures surged to multi-week highs, with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 12 ticks at 98.43,the highest since Oct.7. The 10-year contract YTCc1 jumped 11.5 ticks to a one-month peak of 97.79. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore & Shri Navaratnam)