* Sterling, euro dip after two straight days of gains
* Analysts await political announcements in UK
* Sterling set for weakest quarter vs dollar since 2008
By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK, June 30 (Reuters) - The dollar edged higher against sterling and the euro on Thursday after two straight days of declines as investors became more cautious ahead of political announcements in Britain following the country's vote to exit the European Union.
Former London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was bookmakers' runaway favorite to become Britain's prime minister, pulled out of the race on Thursday in a shocking announcement less than a week after leading the "Brexit" campaign.
Sterling GBP=D4 was last down 0.2 percent against the greenback at $1.3405 after gaining as much as 1.5 percent to $1.3534 on Wednesday. The euro fell 0.3 percent against the greenback to $1.1095 after hitting a nearly one-week high of $1.1155 EUR= early on Thursday.
"People just want more clarity on the political situation before committing to a longer-term view on sterling," said Citi G10 currency strategist Josh O'Byrne in London.
In addition, Paul Christopher, head global market strategist at Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Investment Institute in St. Louis, said traders who were removing short bets against sterling and the euro on Wednesday may have stopped doing so, while others may be placing new bets against sterling.
China's offshore yuan currency was down just 0.3 percent at 6.6733 per dollar CNH= . It had hit a roughly six-month low of 6.6991 after government economists and advisers involved in regular policy discussions told Reuters the People's Bank of China was willing to let the currency depreciate by as much as last year's record decline of around 5 percent.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was last up 0.1 percent at 95.847 .DXY after falling as low as 95.443 early on Thursday.
While the dollar was flat at 102.83 yen JPY= , it was down 0.5 percent against another perceived safe-haven, the Swiss franc, at 0.9748 franc CHF= . O'Byrne of Citi said fading risk appetite helped the franc gain.
On the last day of the second quarter, the period was on track to be sterling's weakest against the dollar since the fourth quarter of 2008.
The dollar index was set to gain about 1.3 percent for the quarter. The greenback was on track to post a more than 7 percent decline against the yen for June to mark its weakest month since October 2008.