* Risk appetite rises as Asian stocks gain on economic hopes * Signs of yen carry trade creeping back - analyst * Little impact from North Korea rocket launch By Satomi Noguchi TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - The yen hit its lowest levels in nearly six months against the dollar and the euro on Monday as investors' risk appetite grew, with Asian stocks climbing on hopes the global downturn may be nearing its bottom. Traders said a recovery in emerging market assets, buoyed by G20 steps to help developing economies last week, added to investors' appetite for riskier and higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian and New Zealand dollars. "The yen seems to be becoming the easiest to secure in the market now, compared with the dollar and euro. A move may be emerging in which speculators use the yen to fund investments in other currencies and assets," said Mitsuru Saito, chief economist at Tokai Tokyo Securities. "We can probably say a mini yen carry trade is back," Saito said. Carry trades are when investors sell a low-yielding currency to buy higher-yielding assets and they were hugely popular among Japanese retail investors earlier in the decade.

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