Dollar near one-month low as cooling inflation curbs Fed hike bets

HONG KONG, July 16 : The U.S. dollar hovered near a one-month low on Thursday, as soft inflation data reinforced bets that the Federal Reserve can stay patient on interest rate hikes, while escalation in Middle East hostilities added upside risk to the inflation outlook.The greenback slipped against the Japanese yen for the third trading session, by 0.1 per cent to 162.075 yen. The euro was 0.1 per cent higher at $1.1472, its strongest in a month. Sterling held near a two-month high at $1.354 on market expectations that Britain's incoming prime minister will pick a fiscally conservative finance minister.The Australian and New Zealand dollars were both down about 0.1 per cent, at $0.6995 and $0.5842 respectively. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the currency against six peers, was little