TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The dollar was slightly firmer against the yen in thin midafternoon trade as the Nikkei 225 stock index eased, but with the cross held in a tight range as investors failed to break near-erm barriers, dealers said. "We failed on both sides," Standard & Poor's MMS managing analyst Hideki Naito said. "We tested the upside but met sizable offers at 129.50 yen, maybe from some exporters and hedge selling. Later we were back below 129.00 but may be Japanese investors are bottom-fishing on dips," he said. "The correlation between the yen and the Nikkei is quite lofty and the Nikkei lost some ground, which may be why we are lower on the yen. This correlation is likely to last for the next few weeks," he said. Nevertheless, the hope that a global cyclical rebound will help Japan's battered economy to recover is propping up the yen, he said. "Even if the Japanese economic recovery is fragile, still it's driven by exports and ... the US is recovering faster than expectations," helping to improve Japan's current account and trade surplus, Naito said. The possibility of an attack on Iraq by the US, with increasingly strong war rhetoric from President George Bush has weakened the dollar against the euro in recent trade but the impact in Tokyo is limited. "We are very far away from this," Naito said. "The oil market has priced in an attack in the future. Yesterday, the reason the dollar lost ground, particularly against the euro, is the Iraq issue."