SINGAPORE, Feb 20 Reuters The dollar rose broadly on Tuesday and firmed above 150 yen on mounting expectations of higherforlonger U.S. rates, contrasting with a recession in Japan and market doubts about a nearterm exit from the country39;s ultraeasy policy.

China grabbed traders39; attention early in the day after a big cut to its benchmark reference rate for mortgages. While the cut comes on top of other efforts to stimulate credit demand and revive the property market, the yuan struggled near a threemonth low as investors say more policy support is required to shore up fragile confidence.

The onshore yuan was last marginally higher at 7.1982 per dollar, after having slipped to its lowest since November earlier in the session. Dollar selling from China39;s major stateowned banks on Tuesday to stem the yuan39;s decline helped cap its losses.

The offshore yuan stood at 7.2089 per dollar.

It39;s great to see the news. It39;s a necessary first step to alleviate debt burden, stimulate long term investment, and bolster stock market confidence, said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China.

In the next step, we will see if policymakers will continuously lower rates by big amount, one time big cut is not enough to reverse market expectation.

The Aussie , often used as a liquid proxy for the yuan, fell 0.15 to 0.6530, while the New Zealand dollar lost 0.19 to 0.61385, as the move from China failed to substantially boost investor optimism.

In the broader market,…