FOREX-Yen hits 8-year low vs dollar, euro dips

* Tokyo official concerns not enough to halt yen selling

* Hits 8-year low of 123.78 yen per dollar

* Pace (Other OTC: PCMXF - news) of dollar gains slower, euro dips to one-month low

By Patrick Graham

LONDON, May 27 (Reuters) - Some muted signs of concern from senior Japanese officials failed to halt the yen's slide to eight-year lows against the dollar on Wednesday as the U.S. currency eked out further gains against most major currencies.

Dealers said steady bids for the dollar through London's benchmark fixing at 1000 GMT had helped trigger automatic sell orders for the yen around 123.45 and 134.60 yen per dollar and euro respectively, driving it to an 8-year low.

The euro also gave back initial gains to fall to another one-month low of $1.0845 as U.S. traders came on line, adding to a week-long rally that has revived faith in the U.S. currency's ability to push towards parity.

Tokyo's Economics Minister Akira Amari said that while recent movements reflected the dollar's gain rather than the yen's fall, excessive currency moves were undesirable, echoing earlier signals from the finance ministry and Bank of Japan.

"There has been a steady bid out there, and that seems to have triggered stops this morning," said a senior dealer with one international bank in London.

There have been some signs of improvement in data on the U.S. economy in the last few days, along with comments by U.S. central bankers shoring up expectations that the Federal Reserve can consider raising rates in the second half of this year.

Against those positive signals for the dollar are a disappointing first quarter and other indicators that suggest many major economies are struggling.

The euro's earlier recovery, however, looked chiefly like a resetting of positions after the dollar gained more than five cents against the euro in just over a week.

"I would hesitate to put the moves overnight down to any specific event," said Neil Mellor, a strategist with Bank of New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) York Mellon in London.

"The underlying theme is of dollar strength. Perhaps June has gone out of the window but I think the market is more and more comfortable with the idea that rates will rise later in the year."

By 1225 GMT, the dollar index was 0.3 percent higher on the day at 97.603.

The Australian dollar also continued to suffer, hitting a one-month low of $0.7711. Its New Zealand peer was also trading around its lowest in over two months at $0.7218. (Editing by Tom Heneghan)