* Yen slips as risk appetite robust
* Dlr firms broadly, close to recent highs
* Australia, New Zealand and UK on holiday
By Simon Falush
LONDON, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The yen fell on Monday while the dollar held near recent highs as risk appetite remained robust in holiday-thinned trade as equities and commodities gained ground.
Trade was thin around Europe as the UK was 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.
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.
"Now's a good time in lower volumes for Japanese investors to send money overseas," said Geoffrey Yu, FX strategist at UBS. "Clients are likely to buy dollar/yen on a risk trade next year and clients are taking advantage of thin conditions to do so now."
Monday is the last business day of the year for many Japanese companies, which resume 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.
By 0848 GMT the dollar was up 0.4 percent at 91.53 yen, not far off a two month high set last week. The euro was up 0.2 percent at 131.62 yen.
The yen was also pressured as equity markets and commodity prices rose with the FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.4 percent and crude trading above $78 per barrel.
The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six other major currencies, was steady at 77.693, off a 3-1/2-month high of 78.449 set last week.
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 see if U.S. Treasury yields continue to rise, with a total of $118 billion of auctions due this week.
Other incentives this week could include Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index for October and U.S. consumer confidence for December on Tuesday.
Market players are watching the data to see if it will add to anticipation of improvement in the December employment report due next week.
"The dollar is underpinned partly by higher U.S. yields on the back of optimism over the economy following recent economic data," said Hideki Hayashi, global economist at Mizuho Securities.
"But if remarks from Bernanke and the Fed minutes redirect market focus back to the prospects for the U.S. low interest rate policy, we might see a pause in the dollar's gains," he said.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver a speech on Jan. 3 and the Fed releases minutes of its Dec. 15-16 meeting on Jan. 6.
The euro slipped slightly on the day to $1.4382, after falling as far as $1.4218 last week, its lowest since early September. (Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; editing by Chris Pizzey)