* U.S. home sales surprise on the downside
* Dollar index below post-Fed hike highs
* Tokyo markets closed for Japanese emperor's birthday
By Lisa Twaronite
TOKYO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - The dollar steadied in holiday-thinned Asian trading on Wednesday after data overnight painted a mixed picture of the U.S. economy, with major currency pairs bobbing in narrow ranges.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six rival currencies, inched up to 98.276 after marking three losing sessions, but was still well below a two-week high of 99.294 set on Thursday last week.
Volume was relatively thin, with Tokyo markets closed for the Japanese emperor's birthday and many investors already away for the Christmas holiday later this week.
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
U.S. consumer spending rose in November by 0.3 percent, according to data inadvertently released late on Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, about 12 hours ahead of schedule. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N14C039
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.
But other data showed that 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 GDP tracking estimate one-tenth, to 1.6 percent.
After the U.S. Federal Reserve's widely anticipated interest rate hike last week, market focus has now turned to the outlook for 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 slightly 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 about 0.2 percent to $1.0937 EUR= , giving back some of this week's position-driven shortcovering gains in the wake of the indecisive outcome of the weekend elections in Spain. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N14B20D
The Australian dollar AUD=D4 inched down to $0.7232, 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 diverging interest rate outlooks between the United States and Australia. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nRUAENEB0F
The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 was slightly higher at $0.6810, hovering close to a two-month peak of $0.6836 touched on Tuesday.
The kiwi has been on rise ever since the Reserve Bank of New Zealand indicated it was unlikely to cut rates further from 2.5 percent, easily the highest among developed nations.
"Post the Fed's meeting, traders may be squaring up long USD positions, whilst others are reluctant to put on new positions into year-end," said BNZ Senior Market Strategist Kymberly Martin in Wellington.