* Euro edges up on short covering, dollar slips
* Investors await FOMC minutes, BoE minutes also due
(Adds comment, details, updates throughout; previous TOKYO)
By Naomi Tajitsu
LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - The euro inched up against the dollar and the yen on Wednesday as traders covered short positions in the single European currency as the flow of news about Greece's fiscal problems stalled for the moment.
Holding the euro near a one-week high against the dollar was a slide in risk aversion as global share markets and commodity prices extended gains, although traders were prepared to dump risky assets should more news about Athens's debt woes emerge.
Market participants also awaited minutes from the Federal Reserve's January policy meeting to be released later in the day to see if they offer any more insight into an exit strategy from the U.S. central bank's loose monetary policy.
European ministers on Tuesday took a tough stance on Greece, telling Athens it may need to take further steps to brings its swollen debts under control.
But analysts said investors were taking a lack of developments on the issue as a cue to trim bets that the euro will weaken, after concerns about Greece knocked the euro down nearly 10 percent against the dollar since December and raised net euro short positions to a record high last week.
However, Ulrich Leuchtmann, currency analyst at Commerzbank in Frankfurt, said investors were still cautious as uncertainty remains longer term about Greece's debt problems.
"Another pullback in the euro is still a possibility because there's still a huge amount of euro shorts in the market," Leuchtmann added.
By 0842 GMT, the euro traded 0.1 percent higher on the day at $1.3780, having edged up to around $1.3690 in early European trade, its highest since Feb. 11.
It rose 0.4 percent to 124.52 yen.
The dollar index slipped by the same amount as the perceived safe-haven status of the U.S. currency was tarnished somewhat by a 1.0 percent rise in European shares, suggesting that investors were creeping into high-risk assets after a recent bout of risk aversion.
FED MINUTES
Despite its losses against the euro and a currency basket, the dollar rose 0.2 percent to 90.34 yen as the yen also came under some selling pressure against higher-yielding currencies.
Sterling was little changed against the dollar as traders awaited minutes from the Bank of England's policy meeting earlier this month, at which it decided not to increase its asset-buying programme in February.
Later in the day, the Fed will release the minutes from its meeting of Jan. 26-27, when policy makers maintained a pledge to hold interest rates near zero.
But a dissenting note from Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig has sparked discussion that monetary tightening could be approaching.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last week offered details on how the central bank will begin to wean the economy off its extraordinary monetary stimulus.
Although he released his plans after the Fed meeting, some analysts said the dollar may gain if the minutes instil confidence the Fed is nearing a position to absorb excess liquidity in the market, the first step towards monetary tightening. (Additional reporting by Tokyo Forex Team, editing by Stephen Nisbet)