UPDATE 1-Yen to fall, dlr to rise - China sovereign fund official
Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:17am IST 

BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar has hit bottom while the yen will continue to decline, Peng Junming, an official at China's $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, said on Tuesday.

Both the United States and China would likely raise interest rates in the second half of the year, said Peng, who resides in the China Investment Corp's asset allocation department, in a speech.

The U.S. dollar rose more than half a yen to a session high around 92.40 yen JPY= after the comments. The euro also slid against the dollar.

Peng added that China should have the right attitude about gold and not rush to buy it now because the price is too high.

Peng made his comments in a speech at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

According to an online biography, he previously worked with China's central bank in New York and has researched Chinese companies' investments abroad, particularly in the derivatives market.

(Reporting by Aileen Wang and Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Ken Wills)