T tendered the lowest bid to build a 12 km7

Officials of Vale, Australia's BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L)and Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) are all due to visit Tokyo nextweek for separate pricing negotiations, the source said. Japanese steelmakers are expected to call for what would bethe first cut in annual prices in seven years amid falteringdemand and cutbacks in output, as well as expected strongpressure from Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and other carmakers forprices to be slashed on automotive sheet steel, their mainstayproduct. JFE Steel Corp president Hajime Bada said last week he wantediron ore prices for the year beginning in April to be cut atleast to 2007/08 levels meaning Brazilian miners must cut byat least 39 percent and their Australian counterparts by around45 percent nT15376. JFE Steel, the world's third-biggest steelmaker, is the coreunit of JFE Holdings Inc (5411.T).

China's steel firms, which began informal price talks latelast year, last week joined JFE in demanding price cuts of around40 percent. nSHA85459 Some analysts expect the annual price talks to reachagreement early as a recent recovery in iron ore prices couldpush mills to make an early settlement. Spot iron ore prices plunged 70 percent from highs of nearly$200 per tonne last February to $60 a tonne in October, but havesince recovered to about $80 a tonne. Expectations for a steel recovery have gathered momentum inrecent weeks as global output cuts tightened market conditionsand forced buyers with low inventories to accept price hikes bysome producers nSEO50718. In 2008 price talks, Vale negotiated its price first andsecured a 65 percent increase from Japanese mills. But Australianproducers who settled later managed a nearly 80 percent increase. BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Thailand's Ch KarnchangCK.BK, which has formed a joint venture with Japan's TokyuConstruction (1720.T), tendered the lowest bid to build a 12 km(7.5 mile) electric train line, part of Bangkok's 36 billionbaht "Purple Line" mass transit project, a government agencysaid on Tuesday.

This is the first of three contracts for the rail line,which will stretch 23 km (14 miles) from Bang Sue in thenorthern part of central Bangkok to Bang Yai in Nonthaburiprovince to the west. Another two contracts will be opened for bidding in comingmonths. Other major contenders are top construction companyItalian-Thai Development ITD.BK and number three Sino-ThaiEngineering and Construction STEC.BK. ($134.91 Baht) (Reporting by Kochakorn Boonlai; Writing by KhettiyaJittapong; Editing by Alan Raybould). Dollar hits 1-month high vs euro on risk aversion Currencies Global Markets High yielders such as NZ, Australian dollars suffer Sliding stocks, oil prices keep risk demand low (Changes dateline, byline, releads, adds comment, updatesthroughout; previous TOKYO) By Naomi Tajitsu LONDON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The dollar rallied broadly onTuesday, hitting one-month highs against the euro plus the NewZealand and Australian dollars as struggling shares andcommodity prices cranked up demand to unwind risky positions. The euro fell as low as $1.3221, according to Reuters data,its weakest level since mid-December, before a European CentralBank policy meeting on Thursday when analysts expect theGoverning Council to cut interest rates by 50 basis points from2.5 percent. (For details of poll please double click on ECB/INT) The euro also came under selling pressure after Spain onMonday became the third euro zone country since Friday to bewarned by Standard & Poor's rating agency that its credit ratingis under threat from the global credit crisis.