* Liquidity thin due to U.S. Thanksgiving holiday
* Position adjustments before holiday hit Aussie vs US dollar
* But Aussie hits record high vs euro
By Hideyuki Sano
TOKYO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The euro struggled near a two-month low as the euro zone debt crisis showed signs of spilling over from Ireland to other euro zone members even after Ireland unveiled an ambitious austerity plan.
Traders say Portugal and increasingly Spain are seen as potentially in need of help while Dublin's belt-tightening plan has come under fire for sticking to economic growth assumptions, unveiled earlier this month, seen as too optimistic.
Trade was thin, however, due to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Some market players said the fall in the euro as well as the Aussie reflected short-covering in the U.S. dollar before the holiday.
"The market is being driven by position adjustments typical in November plus the euro zone problems," said Minori Uchida, a senior analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The euro shed 0.2 percent on the day to trade at $1.3312. It pierced through major support around $1.3333 to hit a two-month low of $1.3284 on Wednesday.
Next support is pegged at $1.3232, a 61.8 percent retracement of the August to November rally, a break of which could see the single currency target $1.3000.
Against the Japanese currency, the euro fell 0.2 percent to 111.15 yen after having fallen to 110.32 yen on Wednesday, a level last seen in mid-September.
"With the U.S. on holiday, and CDS spreads across the PIGS holding in below recent record highs, risk appetite may crawl back in the days ahead to at least stabilise EUR/USD," said Peter Frank, strategist at Societe Generale.
"But, with the Irish government also admitting that the IMF/EU EFSF talks may last weeks, we find no viable reasons to buy the EUR at this point." HAIRCUTS
Other traders said worries that private investors may have to accept losses, or "haircuts", in any euro zone sovereign debt restruturing from 2013 -- a proposal put forward by Germany -- could push up the premium investors will ask for holding euro zone periphery debt, hurting the euro.
"If Europe adopts the debt haircut option, even Spain could be forced to ask for help as soon as December," said a trader at a Japanese bank.
Some traders think the euro could be in for further downside, though few see a return to the four-year low of $1.1876 hit in June in the wake of debt crisis in Greece as yet.
"The low was hit when there was no safety net in Europe and markets were expecting the Fed to exit from its loose policy. As the dollar is also under pressure from the Fed's quantitative easing, it's hard to think the euro will fall to around $1.2," said BOTM's Uchida.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback's performance against a basket of major currencies, flirted with a a two-month high just short of 80.000 overnight and was last at 79.83, almost flat on the day.
The dollar fell 0.1 percent to 83.50 yen, though many traders expect it to stay in its well-worn range around 82.80-83.80 in the near term.
The greenback was aided by U.S. data showing a fall in new claims for jobless benefits to two-year lows and another rise in consumer spending, raising hopes of a stronger U.S. recovery.
Those figures helped spur a rally on Wall Street, though data on U.S. housing and durable goods orders was weak, painting a mixed picture on the economy.
The Aussie dollar dropped 0.4 percent to $0.9771, failing to maintain its initial rise sparked by Wall Street gains.
Position adjustments ahead of the U.S. holiday, selling by Japanese investors and North Korea's warning of possible new attacks following its shelling of a South Korean island this week were cited as hurting the Aussie, and more stop-losses are seen below $0.9720.
But traders said Australia's strong economic fundamentals and the currency's hefty yield are likely to underpin the currency.
In fact, the Aussie hit a record high against the euro earlier in the session, with euro/Aussie falling to a record low around A$1.3553 before climbing back to $1.3630, up 0.3 percent on the day. (Additional reporting by Ian Chua in Sydney; Editing by Chris Gallagher)