Thu Jun 27, 2013 4:12am EDT
* Dollar index slips, likely to be temporary blip
* Euro off 4-week lows, ECB dovish bias to check gains
* Yen under pressure as stock markets steady
By Anirban Nag
LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against a currency basket on Thursday for the first time in over a week after Wednesday's downward revision in U.S. first-quarter growth led some investors to trim bets on a stronger greenback.
But the dollar could rebound if U.S. weekly jobless claims data due later beats forecasts. The Federal Reserve has said jobs data will be key to any decision to slow its stimulus.
The dollar index was down 0.15 percent at 82.851, having hit a four-week high of 83.025 on Wednesday. Most of its gains have come on the back of a rise in U.S. yields as more investors price in chances the Fed will start to taper its $85-billion monthly asset purchase programme later this year.
The euro trade marginally higher at $1.3035, off Wednesday's four-week low of $1.2984. Traders said month and quarter-end flows were also likely to help the dollar.
"U.S. 10-year yields seem to be taking a breather at 2.50-2.60 percent with investors waiting for the more heavyweight data like U.S. payrolls numbers and ISM data next week," said Tom Levinson, currency analyst at ING.
The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday revised down first quarter growth to a 1.8 percent annual pace from 2.4 percent.
But forward economic indicators have suggested that the world's largest economy has gained more traction in the second quarter, keeping alive expectations that monetary stimulus could be withdrawn and U.S. yields are likely to rise further.
"We are bullish on the dollar, while the euro is expected to weaken as some of comments from ECB policymakers have been fairly dovish," ING's Levinson added.
European Central Bank policymakers have stressed this week that any exit from the bank's extraordinary policy measures is distant.
"The euro has shifted from being a relative outperformer to relative underperformer this week," BNP Paribas analysts wrote.
The dollar rose against the yen with the safe-haven Japanese currency under pressure as demand for riskier assets picked up. But gains are likely to be capped as data showed large Japanese investors sold foreign bonds for the sixth week in a row last week, in their largest net selling in 14 months.
The dollar was up 0.5 percent at 98.205 yen.
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