* Dollar dips vs yen on selling by Japan exporters
* NZ dollar hits 6-yr low after RBNZ slashes interest rates
* Focus on US economic data including GDP for Q4
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The dollar dipped against the yen
on Thursday, after rising the previous day due to a rally in U.S.
shares and after the Federal Reserve refrained from committing to
purchase long-dated Treasuries.
The Fed kept interest rates near zero on Wednesday after a
two-day policy meeting, although it said it was prepared to buy
long-term Treasury debt if that would help improve credit
conditions. []
The dollar slipped 0.4 percent to 89.86 yen <JPY=>,
retreating from a one-week high of 90.79 yen hit on trading
platform EBS on Wednesday following the Fed's decision.
"When the dollar rises above 90 yen, there tends to be
selling, albeit light selling, from Japanese corporates," said
Shinichi Hayashi, a currency trader for Shinkin Central Bank.
The dollar also pulled back against the yen after failing on
Wednesday to break above a key resistance on daily Ichimoku
charts of 90.92 yen -- the bottom of the Ichimoku cloud, Hayashi
said.
The dollar, however, was higher against other major
currencies, with the euro falling 0.4 percent to $1.3112 <EUR=>
and sterling down 0.8 percent at $1.4133 <GBP=D4>.
The New Zealand dollar fell as low as $0.5146 <NZD=D4>, the
lowest since December 2002 on Reuters data, after New Zealand's
central bank slashed interest rates by 150 basis points to a
record low of 3.5 percent on Thursday to boost an economy deep in
recession, and left the door open for further, smaller cuts.
[]
FED AND THE DOLLAR
The yen rose broadly despite signs of a possible improvement
in risk appetite. Tokyo shares climbed after U.S. shares rallied
the previous day on optimism the Obama administration was making
progress on a plan to relieve banks of toxic assets. [] []
The rise in U.S. equities had helped buoy the dollar against
the yen on Wednesday, currency market players said.
However, players remained cautious until more details about a
rescue plan are available.
The yen has been viewed as a safe-haven currency amid the
global financial crisis, and it often fluctuates depending on
perceived shifts in investors' tolerance for risk.
The rise in U.S. Treasury yields on the Fed's decision may
have been positive for the dollar from the standpoint of interest
rate differentials, said Masafumi Yamamoto, head of FX strategy
in Japan for Royal Bank of Scotland.
"I thought the dollar might fall against the yen, led by a
decline in U.S. bond yields, if the Fed were to take active
steps, but that did not happen," Yamamoto said, referring to the
fact that the Fed did not commit to buying long-term Treasuries.
Dollar investors fear the Fed's balance sheet will balloon
further as it would need to essentially print more money to keep
the economy afloat, and some market players said the Fed's
decision may have soothed such concerns for the moment.
Investors awaited U.S. labour and housing market data due
later Thursday.
They were also eyeing U.S. gross domestic product for the
fourth quarter due on Friday. It is expected to show a 5.4
percent decline on an annualised basis, the worse since the first
quarter of 1982, according to a Reuters poll.
Worse-than-expected data would likely boost investors' risk
aversion, pushing the dollar and the yen higher, traders said.
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Brent
Kininmont)
