* Dollar recovers vs euro, trade still very thin
* Aussie and kiwi hold on to gains
* U.S. data underwhelms investors (Recasts, adds quotes, updates prices)
NEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - The dollar traded higher against the euro and the yen on Tuesday, after recovering from early losses against the single currency, as holiday-thin trade made moves more volatile.
Traders and analysts warned against drawing too many conclusions from intra-day movements, noting that a few large trades can completely alter the direction of the day's trade.
"The dollar is struggling to find a direction at the end of the year," said John Doyle, foreign exchange strategist at Tempus Consulting in Washington. "There is a lack of liquidity and any major buyer can move the market."
U.S. data released on Tuesday, including consumer confidence data, confirmed the U.S. economy is improving but failed to overwhelm investors.
Some traders said a Moody's downgrade of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ratings to A1/D-plus from Aa3/C-minus prompted a flight to safety in the greenback.
Higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar, up earlier in the session when improved risk appetite was the central trading theme, held on to gains but were off session peaks.
Midway through the New York session, the euro was down 0.3 percent at $1.4340, well off the session peak of $1.4458 and close to the session low of $1.4433.
The dollar index, a non-traded gauge of the greenback's performance against six major currencies, rose 0.3 percent to 77.884, in sight of a 3-1/2-month high touched last week.
Traders earlier said the U.S. currency may struggle to rise much further after speculators have finished covering short dollar positions.
Data on Monday showed speculators were long in the U.S. currency for the first time since May, ending 32 straight weeks of short dollar positions.
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.4 percent to 91.97 yen, with a session high of 92.03 yen, a two-month peak. Traders said upward pressure on long-term Treasury yields is providing support to the dollar against the yen after U.S. government bonds traded lower on Monday and pushed the benchmark 10-year note yield to its highest level in nearly five months.
The dollar showed little reaction to the Federal Reserve's proposal on Monday to create a new mechanism, a "term deposit facility," to help the U.S. central bank withdraw money from the banking system when Fed officials decide to tighten monetary policy.
There was limited reaction to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes report on Tuesday showing U.S. home prices were unchanged in October, dashing hopes for a sixth straight monthly increase.
The Australian dollar was up 0.8 percent at US$0.8943, after earlier touching a 12-day peak. The New Zealand dollar gained 1.3 percent to US$0.7172. (Reporting by Nick Olivari; Editing by Leslie Adler)