MONEY MARKETS-Asian rates in broad decline after Fed, BOJ

* Swaps ease across the region as Fed renews pledge

* Euroyen futures hit two-week low after BOJ

* BOJ decision to keep bank loan duration disappoints some

* South Korea rates down after new cbank head appointment

By Umesh Desai

HONG KONG, March 17 (Reuters) - Asian rates broadly fell on Wednesday after the Fed's pledge of keeping interest rates near zero for some time yet encouraged receiving positions in the swaps market.

In Japan, euroyen futures hit a two-week low after the Bank of Japan eased policy further although the move fell short of some expectations that the central bank would increase the tenure of funds available to banks.

"The BOJ needed to expand the duration of the operation to six months if it wanted to bring down term rates," said Frederic Neumann, Senior Asia Economist at HSBC, Hong Kong.

"There isn't much uptake in the three-month operation. Fundamentally, the BOJ hasn't loosened the reins."

A split vote on its decision to expand the scale of a fund supply tool it adopted in December to 20 trillion yen ($222 billion) from 10 trillion yen also suggested it might take longer to adjust policy in the future. [ID:nSGE62G03I]

The 3-month euroyen futures contract JEYv1 struck a two-week low of 99.625 after falling 0.15 point.

Elsewhere in Asia swap rates fell and the cost of borrowing dollars also declined after the U.S. Federal Reserve overnight renewed its pledge to keep interest rates near zero for an "extended period".

Singapore interbank 3-month dollar rates SGDDFIX=ABSG inched down to 0.42245 percent from 0.42552 percent. It is still above the record low of 0.41033 struck last week.

Swap rates fell in markets like New Zealand, India and Thailand after the Fed's statements.

The drop in swap rates in China was also supported by lower yields at a three-year government bond auction.

China's Ministry of Finance auctioned 26 billion yuan ($3.8 billion) of three-year bonds at a yield of 2.23 percent, below market forecasts of around 2.27 percent.

The yield was also lower than Tuesday's indicative secondary market bid yield of 2.3500 percent.

In South Korea, swap rates fell and bond futures rallied on speculation the incoming central bank governor would not raise interest rates soon.

Kim Choong-soo, named late on Tuesday as the next governor of the Bank of Korea, has suggested he would work closely with the government, reinforcing views that rates will remain at a record low for some months to come.

One year interest rate swaps KRWIRS fell 8 basis points to 3.1 percent. The June contract on 3-year treasury bonds KTBc1 jumped 18 ticks to 110.87 before easing to 110.79.

"We expect Kim to be more dovish than his predecessor, as he has previously worked on the government side rather than at the central bank," said Standard Chartered Bank in a research note.

"While government influence over the BoK is likely to continue, Kim may also want to fulfil his predecessor's intention to start normalising policy rates this year." (Editing by Kazunori Takada)