* Sterling pulls away from 2-week lows as BoE awaited
* Yen off overnight low as hopes fade for drastic BOJ easing steps
* BOJ, Fed will both hold policy meetings on Sep 20-21
TOKYO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The yen firmed in Asian trade on Thursday as investors' looked for safe havens in the face of weakening share markets, though major currency pairs were otherwise little changed ahead of next week's Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve policy meetings.
Concerns about the policy effectiveness of the world's major central banks have triggered a steepening trend in bond yields in recent sessions. A downturn in risk sentiment has bolstered the Japanese currency due to its perceived safe-haven status.
The dollar edged down 0.2 percent to 102.24 yen JPY= , moving away from a one-week high of 103.35 yen touched overnight.
"It's interesting that we're seeing a little bit of risk aversion creep in," said Mitul Kotecha, head of FX strategy at Asia-Pacific for Barclays (LON:BARC) in Singapore.
"That itself is having some impact on markets, and we're seeing the yen firm up on the back of that," he said. "If there's a theme ahead of next week's events, it is that risk theme," he said.
The yen moved off its overnight lows on fading expectations of drastic easing steps from the BOJ. Sources familiar with the BOJ's thinking said the central bank will consider making negative interest rates the focus of its future easing by shifting its prime policy target to interest rates from base money. is no consensus in the BOJ yet on whether to deepen negative rates at the Sept. 20-21 meeting, when it conducts the comprehensive assessment of its policies, the sources said.
"I was a bit surprised yesterday. I thought the yen might have been a little stronger, due to the risk-off mood," said Masashi Murata, currency strategist for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.
"But maybe the BOJ news had an effect. It's hard to say what will happen next week," he said.
The Fed will also meet on Sept. 20-21, and contrasting comments from U.S. policymakers have led to uncertainty about the monetary outlook.
While U.S. interest rate futures indicate expectations for an actual rate increase next week remain low, the dollar could get a lift from anything in the Fed's statement that hints at a hike this year.
The euro edged down slightly to $1.1244 EUR= , and also slipped 0.2 percent against its Japanese counterpart to 114.98 yen EURJPY .
The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, was nearly flat at 95.326 .DXY , after wobbling in a narrow range this week between a low of 94.935 on Monday and a high of 95.672 on Tuesday.
Sterling added 0.2 percent to $1.3258 GBP= , moving away from a two-week low of $1.3139 hit overnight, as investors awaited a Bank of England policy meeting later on Thursday.
The BoE is not expected to introduce new measures, having last month cut interest rates to record lows and reintroduced an asset-purchase programme.
"Chances are pretty slim that the Bank of England will double down on last month's stimulus following generally robust UK economic data between the meetings," Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets, said in a note.