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Yen rally fizzles in Asia

Tokyo - The yen dipped in Asian trade on Thursday, with a recent rally running out of steam as a surprise uptick in oil prices boosted sentiment.

In Tokyo, the dollar rose to ¥117.70, up from ¥117.39 in New York, where at one point it hit a low of ¥116.08.

"The risk-off sentiment pushed the dollar-yen pair to as low as ¥116, but that was probably going too far in the short term," Mitsushige Akino, an executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management, told Bloomberg News.

The euro changed hands at $1.1769 and ¥138.55 on Thursday against $1.1782 and ¥138.30 in US trade.

Traders had moved into the yen in recent days - the unit is seen as a safe haven during times of turmoil and uncertainty - as plunging oil prices shook equity markets and investor confidence.

Adding to selling pressure was a surprise 0.9% fall in US retail sales in December and news that the World Bank had cut its growth forecast for the global economy, saying a US recovery was not enough to drag up other economies.

"The miss on US retail sales was notable, enough to weigh on growth sentiment," National Australia Bank said.

But crude enjoyed a rare five percent rally on Wednesday after fell close to six-year lows, with analysts saying a pick-up had been expected after the commodity had crashed more than 50% since June.

Poor data for the US economy raises the possibility that the Fed may hold off a mid-year interest rate hike - a rate rise would tend to boost the dollar.

There was some good news, however, with the Federal Reserve saying in its Beige Book report that the US economy kept up "modest" or "moderate" growth in recent weeks.

Russia's rouble rose to 64.20 against the dollar. The currency has been hammered as falling oil prices exacerbated fears about Russia's heavy dependence on energy exports.

The greenback mostly weakened against other Asia-Pacific currencies.

It fell to 61.85 Indian rupees from 62.15 rupees on Wednesday, to Sg$1.3342 from Sg$1.3356, to 44.67 Philippine pesos from 44.68 pesos, and to Tw$31.74 from Tw$31.79.

The US unit also weakened to 32.74 Thai baht from 32.78 baht, while it rose to 12 616 Indonesian rupiah from 12 605 rupiah.

The Australian dollar rose to 82.04 US cents from 80.91c, as fresh data showed the country's unemployment rate fell slightly in December.

The Chinese yuan fetched ¥19.00 from ¥18.91.

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