The US dollar and the euro were both pulled off their morning highs against the yen in afternoon trading here as the Japanese currency rebounded sharply, dealers said. They said the yen's rebound had taken the market by surprise. It sent the euro below 158.00 yen and the dollar below 121.00 yen, triggering a series of stop-losses on the way down. Some dealers attributed the yen's rebound to oversold signals on technical charts, which suggested that the yen's recent falls, coupled with the euro's sharp rally, may have been excessive. The Australian dollar continued the slide that began in the morning here after the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that the consumer price index in the fourth quarter of last year was 0.1 pct lower than in the third, and 3.3 pct higher than a year before, the market having forecast a quarter-on-quarter rise of 0.2 pct and a year-on-year rise of 3.6 pct. The weaker-than-expected data, particularly the surprise quarter-on-quarter fall, caused traders to sharply cut back their expectations of an increase in Australian interest rates next month, dealers said. Dealers said further downside moves are likely since the important 0.7820 usd support had failed, setting up the Australian dollar for an eventual pullback toward 0.7750-0.7755 usd.