* Yen slips as risk appetite robust
* Dollar steady, close to recent highs
* Australia, New Zealand and UK on holiday
(Recasts, adds quotes, updates prices, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
NEW YORK, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The dollar rose against the yen in year-end positioning, but traded little changed against the euro on Monday in holiday-thin trade as investors debated the prospects for further gains after a recent rally.
In Japan, Monday was the last working day of the year for many companies, which resume business on Jan. 4. The focus for many is whether the dollar will continue to rise next month after its rebound from a 14-year low on the yen in November.
Trade was light coming into the New York session with many market participants in Europe off for the period between Christmas and the New Year. Markets in the United Kingdom were closed for a public holiday.
There was little market impact from news over the holiday weekend of an attempt to blow up a passenger plane flying to Detroit. [ID:nLDE5BP055]
"The dollar is digesting its recent strong advance," said Andrew Bekoff, chief investment officer for Family Office Group in New York.
The dollar has gained broadly in recent weeks on optimism that the U.S. economy may be poised for better growth in 2010, Bekoff said. Gains against the euro in particular were bolstered by concerns that euro-based economies won't recover as quickly, he said.
"The euro has been pressured by sovereign debt cuts in Greece," Bekoff said.
In early New York trade, the euro was little changed at
$1.4400
The dollar was up 0.3 percent at 91.49 yen, not far off a
two month high set last week
The yen was broadly weaker as investors took advantage of quiet markets to position themselves ahead of a likely pickup in activity in the new year, analysts said.
"Some corporates out of Japan may have been active in the yen, but it's very, very quiet here, and I think (European) companies will have done 99.9 percent of what they had to do this year already," said Antje Praefcke, currency strategist at Commerzbank Corporates and Markets in Frankfurt.
The dollar has risen nearly 1 percent against the yen this year so far, after falling roughly 19 percent in 2008.
Traders are looking to the U.S. Treasury bond market to see if yields continue to rise, with a total of $118 billion of auctions due this week. [US/O]
Other factors that could also move the dollar this week
include Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index for
October and U.S. consumer confidence for December on Tuesday.