* Cross/yen pairs down broadly on profit-taking
* Kiwi falls after Fitch Ratings cuts NZ outlook to negative
* China Q2 GDP up 7.9 pct, matches figure in newspaper report
* Some caution after US lender CIT's talks with govt end
* But CIT's woes seen unlikely to spark strong risk aversion
By Masayuki Kitano
TOKYO, July 16 (Reuters) - The yen rose broadly on Thursday
as traders booked profits in other currencies after their rally
this week, with the New Zealand dollar sliding after Fitch cut
the country's sovereign rating outlook.
The currency market took in its stride data showing that
China's economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter from a
year earlier. That was slightly above market expectations but
matched a figure reported by a Chinese newspaper. []
The yen rose broadly, with the euro slipping 0.6 percent to
132.16 yen <EURJPY=R> and the Australian dollar falling 1 percent
to 74.97 yen <AUDJPY=R>.
But given the rebound in U.S. and global shares this week on
the back of better-than-expected results from U.S. firms such as
Intel Corp <INTC.O> and Goldman Sachs <GS.N>, traders said
risk-taking may pick up and eventually drag the yen lower on
crosses.
"Optimism is starting to appear again following U.S.
corporate earnings including a strong result from Intel," said a
trader at a European bank.
"If the market gets past more U.S. earnings announcements
that are on the way, and they are not too bad, yen crosses and
equities could find a solid footing," the trader said.
The low-yielding yen and the safe-haven dollar both tend to
suffer when optimism about the outlook for the global economy
improves, bolstering hopes that investors will start investing in
higher-yielding currencies and assets.
The dollar dipped 0.4 percent to 93.87 yen <JPY=>, but was
well off a 5-month low of 91.73 yen hit on trading platform EBS
earlier this week.
The dollar was mostly higher against currencies other than
the yen. The euro dipped 0.2 percent to $1.4078 <EUR=>, while
sterling eased 0.2 percent to $1.6384 <GBP=D4>.
Akira Hoshino, chief manager in the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi
UFJ's foreign exchange trading department, said the possibility
of risk aversion flaring up again could not be ruled out.
"There are structural bombs that could explode and damage the
economy at some point," Hoshino said, adding that the dollar and
the yen could rise if such risks materialise.
The kiwi dollar fell sharply after ratings agency Fitch
downgraded New Zealand's sovereign outlook to negative, citing a
lofty current account deficit and higher foreign debt
levels.[]
The New Zealand dollar slid 1.4 percent to $0.6398 <NZD=> and
dropped 1.8 percent to 60.06 yen <NZDJPY=R>.
There was some focus on the financial woes of CIT Group Inc
<CIT.N>, a major lender to small- and mid-sized U.S. businesses.
CIT, which ended March with $75.7 billion of assets, said
talks with the government to bail out the company had ended.
[]
CNBC said CIT was likely to file for bankruptcy on Friday,
citing a source close to the company. []
"It is possible that financial markets could move a bit
towards avoiding risk-taking," said Tohru Sasaki, chief foreign
exchange strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo.
But market players said CIT's troubles were unlikely to lead
to jitters about the health of the broader financial sector, and
that a sharp shift toward risk aversion was unlikely.
(Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
