FOREX-Dollar falls vs yen on data; Greece weighs on euro

* Dollar falls vs yen on retail sales, jobless claims

* ECB keeps rates on hold, Trichet mentions strong dlr

* Concern about Greece weighs on euro

* Aussie boosted by better-than-expected jobs data (Adds comments, details. Updates prices)

By Vivianne Rodrigues

NEW YORK, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The dollar fell versus the yen on Thursday as lackluster U.S. data reinforced the view the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold in the foreseeable future.

But the U.S. currency held gains versus the euro after the European Central Bank kept policy unchanged as expected and President Jean-Claude Trichet reiterated the importance of a strong dollar. For details, see [ID:nFAE005571]

Economic reports showed U.S. retail sales unexpectedly fell last month, while jobless claims rose last week. [ID:nN14168822] and [ID:nLDE60D1LB]

Analysts said the combination of Thursday's data with a weaker-than-expected payrolls report last Friday raised concern about the outlook for the global economy.

"The U.S. continues to recover at a really slow pace," said Joe Manimbo, a currency trader at Travelex Global Business Payments, in Washington D.C. "If you add that to last week's jobs data, that certainly dampens expectations of an early Fed rate hike. Consequently, that sets the stage for a weaker dollar."

In late morning trading in New York, the dollar was 0.3 percent lower at 91.13 yen after hitting a session low of 91.08, according to Reuters. It traded as high as 92.04 yen before the release of the data.

Sentiment toward the U.S. dollar was knocked earlier by New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, who said separately the U.S. central bank would need to be certain the economic recovery was firmly in place before tightening policy.

Meanwhile, the ECB kept its main interest rate on hold at a record low of 1 percent for the eighth month running. It also left its overnight deposit rate, which acts as a floor for money markets, at 0.25 percent and its marginal lending rate at 1.75 percent. [ID:nFAE005568]

The euro reacted little to the ECB decision but lost ground after Trichet commented on the importance of a strong U.S. dollar. He also mentioned Greece and said the country had much work in front of it. [ID:nLDE60D0V8].

The European currency was last 0.3 percent down at $1.4475 after trading as high as $1.4555 earlier.

GREEK WOES

Investor confidence in Greece has fallen as its deficit has ballooned and credit ratings have been cut, which also weighed on the euro in the past couple of months.

Trichet said the idea of a country such as Greece leaving the euro zone was "absurd," but warned that there would be "no special treatment" from the ECB if one of the euro's 16-member countries looked in serious economic danger.

The spread between Greek and German government bonds widened and Greek credit default swaps hit a record high on Thursday [ID:nLDE60D0US] even as the Greek government presented parts of a three-year plan to slash its budget deficit [ID:nLDE60D0QY].

"A lot of people are very cautious about the fiscal situation in Greece," said Niels Christensen, currency strategist at Nordea in Copenhagen. "This seems to have stopped the uptrend in euro/dollar."

The Australian dollar rose against the yen and hit a two-month high versus the U.S. dollar earlier after data showed Australia's jobless rate at an eight-month low, adding to the case for higher interest rates. [ID:nSGE60C06P]

The Australian dollar was last up 0.6 percent at $0.9292 after hitting $0.9331, close to the 2009 high of $0.9407, according to Reuters data.

Investors also awaited U.S. corporate earnings, with results from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase due out this week. (Additional reporting by Steven C. Johnson and Wanfeng Zhou in New York, Tamawa Desai in London; Editing by Kenneth Barry)