TOKYO, April 14 (Reuters) - The yen slipped to a six-month low against the Australian dollar on Tuesday, after losing ground broadly the previous day, as news of better-than-expected results from Goldman Sachs helped lift investor confidence.
U.S. market participants made an upbeat return to business on Monday after the long weekend, driving the dollar and yen down and sending the euro and the Australian and New Zealand dollars up, with optimism about China's recovery prospects helping the commodity currencies.
Markets are waiting to see how U.S. banks fared in the first quarter, looking for signs the financial sector may be starting to stabilise, and news that Goldman Sachs posted a higher-than-expected $1.7 bln profit lifted sentiment.
Currency pairs such as the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar against the yen have shown a high positive correlation with U.S share markets in recent months, and analysts say that is partly behind the yen's fall.
"The market is playing that correlation between equities and FX in an environment where yields everywhere are converging and people are getting some yield back into their portfolio - and cross/yen is where to play it," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Sydney.
The Australian dollar rose as far as 73.49 yen, its highest since mid-October, before slipping to 73.07, down 0.1 percent from late U.S. trade.
It gained 1.5 percent against the greenback on Monday, climbing above US$0.7300, but fell 0.4 percent in Asian trade to $0.7288.
The dollar was steady at 100.09 yen, below last week's six-month high of 101.45 yen, and the euro eased 0.2 percent from late U.S. trade to 133.63 yen.
The euro also fell 0.3 percent to $1.3325, after climbing more than 1 percent in U.S. trade on Monday.
Analysts caution the improvement in investor confidence is simply a reduction in the extreme pessimism seen at the height of the global economic crisis and sentiment remains fragile.
U.S. stock markets ended mixed on Monday, with optimism about banks offset by a profit warning from Boeing and worries about automaker General Motors..
U.S. President Barack Obama plans to deliver what the White House called a "major" speech on the economy on Tuesday.
Obama said on Monday that thousands of major infrastructure projects being undertaken as part of his economic stimulus plan were ahead of schedule and under budget. (Reporting by Charlotte Cooper; Editing by Chris Gallagher)