(Updates at 1905 GMT)

By Hannah Lang

NEW YORK, April 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was down

on Tuesday after earlier hitting its highest in almost five

months, following a new report that showed U.S. job openings

held steady at higher levels in February.

The Japanese yen was last up at 151.605 per

dollar, after earlier dipping to 151.79. It has traded in a

tight range since reaching a 34-year trough of 151.975 on

Wednesday, which spurred Japan to step up warnings of

intervention.

The dollar index rose to 105.1 on Tuesday, its

highest level since Nov. 14, adding to sharp gains on Monday

after U.S. data unexpectedly showed the first expansion in

manufacturing since September 2022, causing traders to pare rate

bets.

The dollar index last stood at 104.81, down 0.181% after a

report from the Labor Department showed that job openings edged

up to 8.756 million on the last day of February, slightly higher

than expectations, as traders also digested a February increase

in factor orders.

The Commerce Department's Census Bureau on Tuesday said new

orders for U.S.-manufactured goods rebounded more than expected

in February, boosted by demand for machinery and commercial

aircraft as manufacturing regains its footing.

Monday's U.S. ISM manufacturing survey data featured a sharp

rise in a measure of prices in the sector, adding to investors'

concerns that inflation will be slow to fall back to 2%,

delaying the Federal Reserve's first rate cut.

"Really the dollar over the last nine months or so has been

driven by Fed policy expectations -- when the probability of a

cut increases sooner, the dollar tends to weaken, and vice

versa," said John Velis, Americas macro strategist at BNY

Mellon.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday said the central bank was

in no hurry to lower borrowing costs after data showed a key

measure of inflation rose slightly in February.

On Tuesday, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki

reiterated that he would not rule out any options to respond to

disorderly currency moves.

Japanese authorities intervened in 2022 when the yen slid

toward a 32-year low of 152 to the dollar.

The yen's decline has come despite the Bank of Japan's first

interest rate hike since 2007 last month, with officials

cautious about further tightening amid a fragile exit from

decades of deflation.

"The fact that they didn't last week to me

suggests that it's going to take a break above 152 for Japanese

policymakers to start getting involved, and in retrospect, I

think maybe that's prudent of them because intervention loses

its significance each time you enter the market," said Matt

Weller, head of market research at StoneX.

Still, officials are "wary of backing themselves into a

corner by drawing a line in the sand at 152," said Nicholas

Chia, Asia macro strategist at Standard Chartered.

"The rationale of jawboning and intervening in FX markets is

mainly to buy time for the JPY in the hopes that USD strength

wanes and recedes," he said.

Elsewhere, China's yuan fell to a 4-1/2-month low

as a strong dollar offset selling of the U.S. currency by

state-owned banks. The yuan fell to a low of 7.2364 per dollar

on the day, its weakest level since mid-November.

The euro fell to its lowest since mid-February at the end of

the Asian session but was last up at $1.0763. Data on

Tuesday showed that the euro zone factory downturn deepened

again in March.

Sterling ticked up from near its lowest since

December to $1.2569 after data showed its manufacturing sector

brightened last month.

Bitcoin declined 5.36% to $66,027 after earlier

declining to as low as $64,550.

The Swiss franc hit its lowest since the start of

November at 0.909 to the dollar. It has dropped around 2.5%

since the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly cut interest rates on

March 21.