The U.S. dollar briefly fell against the yen on Thursday after data showed the world's largest economy grew more slowly than expected in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product increased at a 1.6% annualized rate in the last quarter, according to advance estimates from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at a 2.4% rate.

The dollar fell as low as 155.31 yen after the data, but recovered and was last up 0.2% at 155.67 yen.

(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)