* Dollar stays firm versus euro, sterling
* Market consolidates after Monday"s volatile moves
* RBA hikes rates 25 bps, Aussie dollar unable to hold gains
(Adds quote, detail; previous dateline Tokyo)
By Neal Armstrong
LONDON, March 2 (Reuters) - The dollar posted modest gainson Tuesday, staying firm against the euro and the pound asfiscal and political concerns continued to weigh on Europe"scurrencies.
Analysts said they were seeing consolidation following asignificant sell-off in the pound on Monday, which in turnpulled the euro lower and gave the greenback a boost across theboard.
"The focus today is on consolidation following the big moveswe saw on Monday, but the general dollar-positive tone remainsin place against the pound and the euro in particular," saidLauren Rosborough, currency analyst at Westpac.
Sterling posted its biggest one-day percentage fall in morethan four months on Monday as concerns about upcoming electionsleading to a hung parliament, MA flows and the perilous stateof the UK"s public finances continued to take their toll on thepound.
The euro also remained under pressure on concerns over theindebtedness of peripheral euro zone members such as Greece.
The European Union urged Greece on Monday to agreeadditional austerity measures within days to tackle its fiscalcrisis and promised to help Athens overcome its debt problems,while the office of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreouannounced a cabinet meeting for Wednesday to take decisionsabout the economy. [ID:nLDE6202II]
At 0805 GMT, the euro EUR= was trading down close to 0.3percent at $1.3525, hovering above its recent 9-month low of$1.3445. The pound GBP=D4 was still pressured, trading downaround 0.6 percent at $1.4900 after tumbling to a 10-month lowof $1.4781 on Monday.
"The outlook for sterling and the euro is unlikely toimprove immediately given the various factors working againstthem," said a trader for a European bank."
The dollar .DXY was trading up roughly 0.4 percent at80.593 versus a basket of currencies, staying close to Friday"s9-month high of 81.342.
Stronger-than-expected U.S. GDP data Friday had reinforcedexpectations that U.S. rates would rise quicker than those inthe euro zone. Employment data would be the next focus, with theADP National Employment data due Wednesday, followed by the U.S.labour report on Friday.
"Hardly any market participant wants to be short dollarswith the ADP employment index due for publication tomorrow andthe US labour market report due on Friday," said CommerzbankAnalysts in a note."
The greenback traded with slight gains versus the yen JPY=at 89.20 yen.
AUSTRALIAN DOLLAR
The Australian dollar advanced as high as $0.9035 AUD=D4after the RBA"s hiked interest rates to 4.0 percent on Tuesdayand flagged further increases down the line. [ID:nSGE62101U]
There had been some uncertainty about whether the RBA wouldraise rates on Tuesday because many investors were burnt afterit surprised markets by skipping a hike at its February meeting.
The Aussie later gave up its gains and last stood at$0.9000, little changed on the day.
"We were looking for a 25 bps hike as the fundamentals inAustralia remain strong. The Aussie remains firm but has failedto hold gains our flow data shows funds are already long ofAustralian dollars", added Westpac"s Rosborough.
(Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano ; Editing by JohnStonestreet)
Currencies
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