* Downbeat U.S. home sales data weigh on dollar sentiment
* Dollar index moves further away from post-Fed hike highs
* Tokyo markets closed for Japanese emperor's birthday
By Lisa Twaronite
TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The dollar edged down in Asian trading on Wednesday after data overnight painted a mixed picture of the U.S. economy, with major currency pairs bobbing in narrow ranges as traders wound down in a holiday-heavy week.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, pulled down slightly to 98.215 after marking three losing sessions, taking it further away from a two-week high of 99.294 set on Thursday last week.
Volume was expected to be relatively thin, with Tokyo markets closed for the Japanese emperor's birthday and many investors already away for the Christmas holiday later this week.
U.S. home resales unexpectedly plunged 10.5 percent to an annual rate of 4.76 million units in November, their steepest drop since July 2010. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N14B0PB
"Weaker-than-expected November sales suggest that a sizeable contraction in brokers' commissions will dampen otherwise solid residential investment growth in Q4," strategists at Barclays (L:BARC) wrote, and lowered their fourth quarter gross domestic product tracking estimate one-tenth, to 1.6 percent.
Separate data on Tuesday showed U.S. gross domestic product grew at a 2.0 percent annual pace in the third quarter, slightly slower than the initial estimate reported last month, but still better than the 1.9 percent expected by economists. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nLNNMNEB0Q
On the brighter side, the final third-quarter reading of core PCE, a measure of domestic core inflation which is also the Fed's preferred inflation measure, rose to 1.4 percent, slightly beating expectations for an unchanged reading of 1.3 percent.
After the U.S. Federal Reserve's widely anticipated interest rate hike last week, market focus has now turned to the outlook for future policy. A Reuters poll on Friday predicted the U.S. central bank would raise rates again in March, but might move more slowly after that, and bearish data surprises are likely to lower expectations of more tightening. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14736C
The dollar was down about 0.1 percent at 121.01 yen JPY= , well below its Friday high of 123.49 yen and not far from a one-week low of 120.72 touched on Tuesday.
The euro edged down 0.1 percent to $1.0951 EUR= , giving back some of the gains it made on shortcovering this week despite the indecisive outcome of the weekend elections in Spain, casting a cloud over the future of economic reforms. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N14B20D
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 inched down to $0.7229, moving back toward a one-month low of $0.7097 hit on Thursday last week.
The Aussie is down more than 11 percent for the year, largely due to a diverging interest rate outlooks between the United States and Australia. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nRUAENEB0F
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 was nearly flat at $0.6806.