FOREX-Dollar slips after U.S. existing home sales data

NEW YORK, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar extended declines against the yen on Wednesday after a report showed U.S. existing home sales for September were weaker than expected, reinforcing the view the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week.

U.S. sales of previously owned homes fell 8.0 percent in September to a record low annual pace of 5.04 million units amid troubles in the subprime mortgage and credit markets, the National Association of Realtors said on Wednesday. It was the lowest sales pace since the realtor group began tracking the figures in 1999.

"It's clearly a negative for the U.S. dollar," said Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto. "It increases the uncertainty regarding the U.S. economic outlook and reinforces the view the Fed may have to cut rates at its meeting next week."

The dollar fell against the yen, trading down 0.5 percent at 114.16 yen yen . The euro was down 0.1 percent against the dollar, trading at $1.4248.