Dollar eases in thin trade in Asia

The dollar eased slightly in light Asian trade Tuesday as investors largely stayed on the sidelines ahead of the US Thanksgiving holiday later in the week, dealers said.The dollar eased to 88.88 yen from 88.97 late Monday in New York. The euro edged down to $1.4950 from $1.4963 and to 132.81 yen from 133.14 yen."The market is quite dormant," said Masatsugu Miyata, forex dealer at Hachijuni Bank."We don't see much incentive in the Tokyo market. Investors more or less have been watching market sentiment overseas," Miyata said.The dollar came under fresh pressure Monday in New York after comments suggesting US authorities may extend emergency stimulus measures, encouraging traders to move into riskier assets including gold.Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis president James Bullard said he would prefer to keep the central bank's asset-buying program active beyond its current cut-off date."We are watching whether the greenback will gain ground this week, but investors will likely stay quiet," Miyata said, adding that only two trading days remain before the US Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.The dollar's fall came after rising last week as investors shunned assets viewed as risky, such as the euro, following declines on world stock markets triggered by fresh worries about the economic outlook.