* EU approves Greek plan, euro surrenders early gains
* Concerns remain about other euro zone countries
* Norwegian central bank leaves benchmark rate unchanged
(Recasts, updates prices, adds comment)
By Nick Olivari
NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The euro surrendered early gains and fell against the dollar on Wednesday as the European Commission's approval of a Greek deficit-cutting plan failed to allay broader regional concerns about debt-laden countries.
The news eased some investor worries over fiscal problems in the euro zone in the near term. But concerns remained countries such as Portugal and Spain which could hinder the single European currency. Markets were also wary of how long a Greek fix will take and the tough European Union conditions attached to approval of the Greek plan.
"People were looking for the EU plan on Greece and it was more or less what was expected but there will still be problems for some time," said Win Thin, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. "It's not just Greece, it is Spain and Portugal."
Elsewhere, the dollar rose against the yen ahead of Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls report after the ADP private-sector employment report showed fewer-than-expected job losses.
In late morning New York trade, the European currency fell 0.4 percent to $.13911, close to the session low of $1.3904 after rising to a session high of $1.4026 earlier in the global trading day.
Analysts said the EU's approval would ease near-term concerns and underpin the euro, though Greece's problems were far from over.
"Ultimately it will prove a slow and hard slog for the Greek government to regain the markets' trust requiring the government to successfully meet its budget deficit-cutting targets," said Lee Hardman, currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
Bond markets in Europe swooned after Portugal cut a planned treasury bill issue and Spain disclosed that its budget deficits for the next three years will be higher than forecast.
Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said those countries shared some of Greece's problems.
The cost of insuring Portuguese government debt against default rose on Wednesday, according to five-year credit default swap prices from CMA DataVision.
A monthly Reuters poll showed respondents expected the euro to stand at $1.40 in one month's time.
DOLLAR FALLS
The dollar index rose 0.3 percent to 79.285, not far from a six-month high of 79.534 struck earlier this week.
The U.S. currency tumbled as low as 90.09 yen but was last up 0.6 percent at 90.96 yen. It extended gains after the ADP report climbing as high as 91.28 yen, its highest since January 21.
"Overall, the market is taking ADP and Challenger reports as positive, especially ahead of the non-farm payrolls report on Friday," said Kathy Lien, director of currency research at GFT. "As a result, we are seeing the dollar outperform against many currencies today."
The number of planned layoffs at U.S. companies rose to the highest level in five months in January, led by the retail and telecommunications sectors, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc, a global outplacement consultancy.
Norges Bank, the Norwegian central bank, kept its benchmark rate at 1.75 percent, an outcome that had been expected after a rate increase last December.
The euro was last up 0.2 percent against the Norwegian crown at 8.1643 crowns while the dollar was up 0.5 percent at 5.8678 crowns.
Traders said the market has largely priced in further rate rises though the central bank said rate hikes may be delayed if the crown firms more than expected.
Ahead of the rate decision, Norway's central bank said it would tighten guidelines for types of collateral commercial banks can use for loans with the central bank.
Central bank policy decisions for the euro zone and the UK were scheduled for Thursday, with the Bank of England expected to halt its quantitative easing programme.
(Additional reporting by Wanfeng Zhou and Vivianne Rodrigues in New York and Tamawa Desai in London)
(Reporting by Nick Olivari; Editing by Andrew Hay)