* Prices drop ahead of 3-, 10-, 30-yr auctions
* Japan support eases Euro zone concerns
* Fed buys notes due 2016-2017 (Adds comments, updates prices)
By Karen Brettell
NEW YORK, Jan 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries prices fell on Tuesday as traders prepared for new Treasury supply while a show of support by Japan for hard-hit euro zone debt eased some concerns over the region.
The U.S. Treasury will sell $66 billion in new supply this week, including $32 billion in three-year notes on Tuesday, $21 billion in re-opened 10-year notes on Wednesday and $13 billion in re-opened 30-year bonds on Thursday.
Government debt prices often dip ahead of the auctions as dealers short Treasuries to prepare for the sale before buying back the debt in the auctions.
"The long end tends to come under pressure coming into these long-end auctions," said Suvrat Prakash, interest rate strategist at BNP Paribas in New York.
Demand for the new debt, however, is expected to be strong.
"In general we think there is quite a bit of money to be put to work," Prakash said, noting "there have been a good amount of buybacks, which is money being returned to the investor which can be used at the auction."
The Federal Reserve bought $7.80 billion in debt maturing 2016 and 2017 on Tuesday as part of its $600 billion purchase program known as quantitative easing, or QE2, after buying $7.79 billion in notes due between 2018 and 2020 on Monday.
Benchmark 10-year notes US10YT=RR fell 19/32 in price on Tuesday, their yields rising to 3.37 percent from 3.29 percent late Monday.
The notes have been largely rangebound in the area of 3.30 percent to 3.50 percent in the past few weeks after hitting a seven-month high of 3.57 percent in mid-December.
Retail sales data scheduled for release on Friday could break the notes' yields out of this range, said Ira Jersey, interest rate strategist at Credit Suisse in New York.
"If we get a reasonably weak number that would probably spur a decent rally, whereas you could see the top end of that range if we get a particularly strong number," he said.
Thirty-year bonds US30YT=RR dropped 1-2/32 in price to yield 4.53 percent from 4.46 percent on Monday. The gap between yields on 2-year and 30-year Treasuries also rose to a new high of 394 basis points, compared with 389 basis points on Monday.
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