FOREX-US dollar, yen rise versus euro on safe-haven flows

                                
 * Dollar, yen rise versus euro on safe-haven bid
                                
 * U.S. corporate earnings worries sap risk appetite
                                
 * US Fed minutes, BoE rate decision awaited
 (Adds quotes, updates prices, changes byline, changes
dateline, previous LONDON)
                                
 By Wanfeng Zhou
                                
 NEW YORK, April 8 (Reuters) - The dollar and yen rose
against the euro on Wednesday as concerns about U.S. corporate
earnings dampened risk appetite and boosted safe-haven flows
into the two currencies.
                                
 Alcoa <AA.N> on Tuesday kicked off the earnings season with
a second consecutive quarterly loss, fueling worries that other
corporations would also post poor results in the coming weeks.
                                
 "It seems that risk aversion has returned to the market
after the short period of exuberance following the G20
meeting," said Ronald Simpson, managing director of global
currency analysis at Action Economics in Tampa, Florida.
                                
 "The market is back to buying dollars against the euro and
the commodity bloc when stocks go down and doing the opposite
when they go up," he added. "There's no real direction here."
                                
 The dollar and yen are often seen as safer places to park
money in times of heightened risk aversion.
                                
 However, the U.S. and Japanese currencies pared some gains
after U.S. stocks opened higher on reports that the government
would extend aid to life insurers <.DJI>.
                                
 In early New York trading, the euro <EUR=> traded 0.1
percent lower at $1.3253. The single European currency climbed
to near $1.36 earlier this week after the Group of 20 leaders
summit in London gave a boost to risk appetite.
                                
 The euro also came under pressure after Ireland announced
its second emergency budget in six months on Tuesday, which
traders said highlighted strains in the euro zone.
[ID:nL7574837] and [ID:nL8323631].
                                
 "Ireland remains the most pressing problem for the (euro
zone) region as the country's economy has taken a swan dive,"
Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT Forex
in New York, wrote in a note.
                                
 "Euro bears argue that ultimately the euro zone will have
no choice but to rescue the Celtic Tiger or risk the threat of
dissolution."
                                
 The Japanese currency continued its rebound after hitting a
six-month low of 101.45 yen against the dollar earlier in the
week, and was last up 0.2 percent against the dollar at 100.29
yen <JPY=>. The euro fell 0.2 percent to 132.91 yen <EURJPY=>.
                                
 Later on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release
minutes from its policy meeting in March, when it announced it
would start buying longer-dated U.S. Treasuries, a move that
sparked a sell-off in the dollar.
                                
 Markets are also awaiting a policy decision by the Bank of
England on Thursday, at which the central bank is expected to
leave UK interest rates on hold at 0.5 percent [BOE/INT].
 (Additional reporting by Jessica Mortimer in LONDON; Editing
by Chizu Nomiyama)