FOREX-Dollar holds steady as traders await clues from Fed

* Traders await possible hints on a September U.S. rate increase

* Aussie, other commodities-linked currencies under pressure

* Kiwi holds steady after RBNZ governor comments (Updates market action, changes dateline, previous LONDON)

By Richard Leong

NEW YORK, July 29 (Reuters) - The dollar held steady against major currencies on Wednesday as traders awaited possible clues from the Federal Reserve on whether it will raise interest rates, perhaps as early as September.

The prevalent view has been the U.S. central bank is ready to end its near-zero interest rate policy by year-end as the world biggest economy has dug out of a recession worsened by the global credit crunch nearly seven years ago.

Although inflation has remained below the Fed's 2 percent target and overseas developments including the European debt crisis and most recently China's stock market turmoil have complicated the timing of a rate "lift-off," most analysts reckon the era of near-zero rates is coming to an end.

"The core message will be that the Fed will leave door the open for a September rate hike, which would be mildly dollar positive and disappoint those who are looking for a more dovish signal," said Alan Ruskin, global head of FX strategy at Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) in New York.

The consensus among economists in a Reuters poll published on July 23 was that the Fed would raise rates by a quarter point at its September meeting, followed by another quarter-point move in December.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release its policy statement at 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT).

Higher U.S. Treasuries yields also supported the greenback, with the two-year yield rising to 0.708 percent.

The dollar was up 0.1 percent at 123.72 yen, while the euro was down 0.2 percent at $1.1033.

The dollar index was little changed at 96.788.

Meanwhile, a sixth day of losses in the oil market exerted downward pressure on the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and other currencies that are closely linked to commodities.

The move underscored growing concerns around economies whose growth is reliant on commodity exports as China is slowing and short-term supply of many natural resources is high.

The Australian dollar was down 0.3 percent at $0.7318 after falling almost half a percent earlier.

The New Zealand dollar bucked the trend among commodity-linked currencies. It held firm above its recent six-year low against the dollar at $0.6691 after its central bank governor played down the chances of further deep cuts to interest rates. (Additional reporting by Patrick Graham in London; Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Masayuki Kitano in Singapore; Editing by Alison Williams and Meredith Mazzilli)