By MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) - The dollar rose against the yen but slipped against other major rivals in Asian trading Wednesday, as a regional equities rally sparked by bright U.S. earnings prompted investors to seek higher-yielding currencies. "The dollar and yen maintained an easier tone as the market remained in risk-seeking territory following strong equity market gains," said currency analysts at Action Economics. The dollar index (DXY 83.52, -0.12, -0.15%) , which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major currencies, fell to 83.531, from 83.564 in late North American trading on Tuesday. Read more Market Watch Currencies coveragez The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2722, 0.0000, 0.0000%) advanced to buy $1.2719, up from $1.2693 Tuesday. The euro also turned higher on the low-yielding Japanese yen (CUR_EURYEN 113.0300, +0.1900, +0.1684%) to fetch ¥113.02, up from ¥112.48, while the dollar (CUR_USDYEN 88.8600, +0.1500, +0.1691%) gained some ground to buy ¥88.85, up from ¥88.46. Also on the move, the British pound (CUR_GBPUSD 1.5255, +0.0074, +0.4875%) rose to $1.5230, up from $1.5169 late Tuesday. The dollar weakened to a two-month low against the euro on Tuesday as positive U.S. earnings reports supported equity markets, again robbing the greenback of its safe-haven appeal. See Tuesday's Currencies report. The euro had come under pressure earlier Tuesday after Moody's Investors Service downgraded Portugal's sovereign credit rating by two notches -- to A1 from Aa2 -- citing fears of further deterioration in the nation's public finances and weak growth prospects. See full story on Moody's downgrade of Portugal.

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