LONDON, June 25 Reuters The dollar attempted to break above the key 160 yen level on Tuesday but with little success as fears of intervention from Japanese officials deterred traders from punishing the yen too severely against other currencies.

Elsewhere, bitcoin recovered some lost ground after its worst day in more than two months at the start of the week, in part due to flows out of bitcoin exchangetraded funds ETFs, analysts said.

The dollar was last 0.1 lower at 159.49 yen , clinging to a tight range, as traders remained wary of testing the key resistance level that had prompted a 9.79 trillion yen 61.33 billion currency intervention from Tokyo in late April and early May.

That kept the yen hemmed in and stopped it hitting fresh lows against other currencies, with sterling sitting just below a 16year high at 202.33 yen .

The market is showing … that they are nervous, and they are very much on edge about this situation, said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

There are inherent risks to being short the Japanese yen now as a carry trade, which is of course what authorities want to see.

The first port of call is to tell currency speculators and people holding for carry that you39;re on notice, if you hold those positions now, you run the risk of a 400, 500pip drop in dollaryen.

The latest decline in the yen has come on the back of the Bank of Japan39;s BOJ June policy meeting, where policymakers disappointed investors who were betting on an…