* Price action subdued, Japan on last trading day of 2009
* Focus heading into 2010 is timing of U.S. exit strategy
* Near-term focus on whether dollar can reach 92.33 yen
By Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The dollar held at a two-month high against the yen on Wednesday, keeping the firmer tone it has developed recently on shifting sentiment about the outlook for U.S. rates, while the yen was weaker against higher yielders.
Price action was subdued before the new year, with Japanese markets closed on Thursday, and traders said that only trading for last-minute commercial needs was expected.
The dollar topped 92.00 yen for the first time since October in U.S. trading on Tuesday and held above that in the Asian session, with some dealers looking for the October high of 92.33 to be tested soon.
The Japanese currency also fell sharply against the Australian and New Zealand dollars the previous day as both gained ground on the dollar, although traders say conditions are thin meaning that individual orders can move prices.
The main question for the currency market going into 2010 is when the Federal Reserve will start to tighten policy.
Improved U.S. data in the past month has made many review their forecasts for when rates might start to rise and has brought the dollar up from a 14-year low against the yen and revived its fortunes against other majors.
Investors will be watching policy maker comments closely, as well as what signals indicators such as jobs numbers send about the strength of the labour market.
"The market is shifting its focus to the recently emerged theme of whether the Fed exit strategy will be sooner than expected. And it will closely scrutinize upcoming U.S. economic data," said Kazuyuki Takami, senior manager at the foreign exchange trading department at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The December non-farm payrolls report is due on Jan. 8 and some economists are expecting the data to turn positive in the first quarter, after the number of jobs lost shrunk to 11,000 in November.
The dollar edged up to 92.08 yen on trading platform EBS. A trader at a large Japanese bank said there was greenback demand from Japanese importers related to the Tokyo fix at 0100 GMT which helped push it up.
The euro slipped 0.2 percent to $1.4327 after rising as far as $1.4459 on EBS the previous day, its highest in two weeks. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Joseph Radford)