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TOKYO, May 26 (Reuters) The dollar slipped against the yen on Friday, extending losses made a day earlier when economic growth data failed to bolster expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.

With the market returning some focus to rates, the yen initially dipped after data showed Japan's core consumer price index in April matched forecasts, before recovering against the dollar and extending gains after stop-loss levels were triggered.

The Japanese currency had garnered support the previous day on expectations that a better-than-expected CPI figure would give the BOJ more cause to boost rates as soon as July.

''The market had already sold a lot of dollars against the yen in the thought that it was going to be a stronger figure. Basically it was a bit of a non-event,'' said Luke Waddington, head of forex trading at Royal Bank of Scotland in Tokyo.

''The underlying movement is that people want to sell dollars and want to continue doing it,'' he added.

The dollar weakened on Thursday after data showed U.S. gross domestic product in the first quarter rose a revised 5.3 percent, a robust figure but below market expectations for a 5.7 percent gain.

The market is divided over whether the Fed will lift its funds rate for a 17th straight time to 5.25 percent at its next meeting in June.

SNOW TALK SHRUGGED OFF Currencies shrugged off talk that U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow will likely step down in mid- to late June after more than three years at the helm, with some traders saying currencies may not react until his successor is named.

In early Tokyo trade the dollar slipped to 111.60 yen from around 111.75 yen in late U.S. trade.

The dollar's failure to break above 113 yen in the past few days suggested to some traders that the U.S. currency's rebound this week had petered out.

The euro was little changed at $1.2805 It was at 142.90 yen down from 143.05 yen.

The dollar also lost ground on Thursday after Russia said it intends to invest 45 percent of its $71.5 billion stabilisation fund -- designed to mop up excess cash earned from oil sales -- in euros.

That raised anew the spectre of countries diversifying reserves away from dollar-denominated assets, a byproduct of the the dollar's slide to one-year lows against the euro and the pound and an eight-month trough versus the yen earlier this month.

REUTERS DH RN0622