Dollar sluggish

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TOKYO: The dollar was little changed on Friday as traders marked time ahead of next week´s U.S. inflation-linked indicators, while commodity currencies such as the Canadian dollar held to gains after crude oil prices bounced.

The dollar index against a basket of major currencies was effectively flat at 97.492.The index peaked at a one-month high of 97.871 on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates last week and left the door open for further monetary tightening later in the year.

But it has been stuck in a tight range since, awaiting fresh catalysts.  "While the market was able to draw incentives from the Fed last week, there really were not a lot of factors for the dollar to move on this week in the absence of major indicator releases and political events," said Shin Kadota, a senior strategist at Barclays in Tokyo. 

"But inflation is likely to be the theme that moves currencies next week which will see the release of various U.S. indicators. They will be key as this week´s slump in crude oil has clouded the U.S. inflation outlook. "U.S. data due next week include the June consumer confidence indicator, pending home sales, crude oil inventories, revised first quarter GDP and the PCE price index.