The fact that Wednesday's Asian gains weren't stronger on the Moody's news shows the extent to which short-term yen-supportive factors can offset even the threat of another sovereign downgrade, a Japanese city bank player said. One factor is stronger stocks: the Nikkei 225 Stock Average broke above the key 10000 psychological benchmark for the first time since Feb. 1 several times during Wednesday's session. Another is the Japanese government's comprehensive plan to halt deflation and shore up the financial system, the details of which are being hammered out ahead of U.S. President George Bush's visit here next week. Proposed steps include those aimed at supporting the stock market, accelerating bad-loan disposals and injecting public funds into tottering banks. While many analysts have already criticized the plan in the discussion stage, saying it falls short of the drastic measures needed, "no one wants to sell the yen until the plan is done, and Bush is gone," said the city bank player. Landon said the dollar's upside will likely be contained around Y134.50 ahead of Bush's visit, with support at Y131.50. "There's probably more of a chance to test the downside than the upside," he said, The euro benefitted from the dollar's rise against the yen, but remained shy of the Y117 point, around which it's vulnerable to profit-taking, the Japanese bank player said. Against the dollar, the euro stayed in a relatively narrow range between $0.8747 and $0.8772.