* Yen gains against dollar on global growth concerns
* Dollar hits over three-week lows against euro, Swiss franc
* Ruble hits fresh record lows against dollar a day after plunging
* Traders eye dovish Fed (Updates prices, adds comments, changes byline, dateline; previous LONDON)
By Sam Forgione
NEW YORK, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar hovered at its lowest level against the safe-haven yen in roughly a month on Tuesday while the Russian ruble continued its plunge against the greenback after an extended drop in oil prices fuelled concerns over the global economy.
The dollar also hit more than three-week lows against the euro and the Swiss franc after Brent crude fell below $59 a barrel for the first time since May 2009, extending a six-month selloff and leading traders to take profits from recent dollar strength.
"Oil plunging ... is causing volatility in currencies and causing people to take profit in the dollar," said Alan Ruskin, global head of currency strategy at Deutsche Bank in New York.
The threat that tumbling oil prices pose to Russia's economy, along with the Russian central bank's failure to halt the currency's plunge through an emergency rate hike, led the Russian currency to collapse further to record lows of more than 70 per dollar. Sales of oil and gas are Russia's chief source of export revenue.
The dollar was last up 9.61 percent against the rouble to trade at 72.37 roubles.
"If you have a deeply mono-export culture which is linked to oil, then the consequences of much lower oil prices are quite unfortunate," said Sebastien Galy, senior foreign exchange analyst at Societe Generale in New York.
Analysts also said the drop in oil prices could give the Federal Reserve reason to maintain an accommodative stance toward monetary policy at the end of a two-day meeting Wednesday and signal that the U.S. central bank will keep near-zero benchmark interest rates on hold for longer. That suspicion also hurt the dollar and led traders to favor the yen.
A Fed rate hike is expected to boost the dollar by attracting investment flows into the United States.
The euro was last up 0.6 percent against the dollar at $1.2512, not far from a more than three-week high of $1.2569. The dollar was last down 0.61 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.9596 franc, not far from an over three-week low of 0.9555.
The dollar was last down 0.97 percent against the yen at 116.68 yen, holding near a session low of 115.58, which was the lowest since Nov. 17.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 stock index was last up 0.45 percent. (Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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