FOREX-Yen slips, sterling hits 3-mth high vs dlr

* Yen slips on stocks as short-term players buy crosses

* Sterling buoyed buy UK housing news

TOKYO, April 16 (Reuters) - The yen slipped against major currencies on Thursday following strong gains in Tokyo share prices, while sterling jumped after brighter British housing data gave investors the chance to test higher ground for the currency.

Japan's Nikkei share average .N225 rose 3 percent, fuelled by a gain on Wall Street on optimism the U.S. recession may be abating, although currency market players expressed caution following a mixed set of data from the United States on Wednesday.

Sterling hit a three-month high against the dollar after a report on Wednesday showed the pace of decline in house prices in England and Wales moderated to its slowest in a year and sales volumes picked up from record low levels. [ID:nLF98976]

Higher yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar and sterling were also getting a lift versus the yen.

"The crosses against the yen are being bought by short-term players, mainly foreign hedge funds," a trader at a Japanese banks said.

The market was also awaiting earnings reports from major U.S. companies such as JPMorgan (JPM.N) on Thursday and Citigroup (C.N) on Friday, traders said.

"Recent optimism has waned but better-than-expected U.S. earnings so far are preventing stocks from falling sharply. With more business results coming, the market lacks decisive factors," said Akira Takeuchi, manager at Chuo Mitsui Trust and Banking.

U.S. data showed consumer prices posted their first 12-month drop in nearly 54 years in March and industrial production slipped further. But the Federal Reserve said economic activity in some parts of economy appeared to be stabilising. [ID:nN15491736]

The dollar was at 99.44 yen JPY=, little changed from late U.S. trade on Wednesday.

The euro rose 0.3 percent to 131.83 yen EURJPY=R while the Australian dollar gained 0.5 percent to 72.62 yen AUDJPY=R.

The Aussie was also up 0.5 percent at $0.7304 AUD=D4 while sterling climbed 0.5 percent to $1.5057 GBP=D4. It hit a peak of $1.5069, its highest since early January, according to Reuters data.

The euro rose 0.2 percent to $1.3252 EUR=, although traders said comments by an ECB official that the central bank would lay out a package in May of non-traditional monetary policy measures to boost the economy was likely to keep the currency under pressure. [ID:nLF125201] (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Michael Watson)