By Lisa Twaronite, MarketWatch TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- The dollar lost ground to the yen but gained against other major rivals in Asian trading Wednesday, ahead of the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's first policy meeting of the year. Analysts predict that the Federal Open Market Committee won't change the bank's target interest rate. The focus will instead be on the economic outlook and comments about its mortgage-debt buying plans. See preview on Fed meeting. In Asian trading, "the dollar was range bound against Europe as today's FOMC policy announced clipped volumes, although the market expects it to maintain its exceptionally low rates for an extended period, as well as keeping its other policy measures intact," said analysts at Action Economics. The dollar was buying 89.37 yen, down from 89.72 yen in late North American trading Tuesday. Earlier, the greenback fell as low as 89.11 yen according to FactSet data - its lowest point since mid-December. The dollar index (DXY 78.64, +0.21, +0.27%) which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose to 78.561, up from 78.443 late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.4046 from $1.4086 Tuesday, while the British pound dropped to $61.36 from $1.6150. The dollar firmed versus major counterparts Tuesday, touching its highest level in more than a month, on reports that China wanted to rein in bank lending and news that Japan's debt rating could be downgraded.

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