* Euro zone, UK CPI data weaker than expected
* Canadian dollar weakens as Bank of Canada leaves rates unchanged (Updates market action, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
By Richard Leong
NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar held steady versus a basket of currencies on Wednesday, as solid company results and fading concerns about a trade war renewed investor purchases of U.S. stocks, keeping a lid on safe-haven demand for the greenback.
The dollar also has found support from relatively stronger economic figures than those seen in Europe and other developed markets, as well as reduced fears that Western air strikes on Syria would intensify.
Nevertheless, the greenback remains on a bearish path on expectations that the U.S. trade and federal deficits would balloon in the coming quarters, many analysts said.
"Once we get away from this period of risk-off, we are still on the regime that the dollar is weakeninng," said Ilya Gofshteyn, global macro strategist at Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) in New York.
The dollar index .DXY , which tracks the greenback against a basket of six currencies, edged up 0.04 percent, to 89.556. It has moved in a narrow range between 89.229 and 90.597 since March 28.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 7.44 points, or 0.03 percent, to 24,794.07, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 8.93 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,715.32 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 25.45 points, or 0.35 percent, to 7,306.54.
The euro EUR= was last up 0.06 percent, at $1.2377, while
the greenback JPY= was 0.25 percent higher, at 107.25 yen.
Among other G10 currencies, the pound was down 0.4 percent at $1.423 GBP=D3 after it was nudged away from a post-Brexit referendum 22-month high of $1.4377 on Tuesday by weaker-than-expected British wage data.
Markets were still pricing in a more than even chance the Bank of England will hike interest rates in May, expectations of which have helped sterling advance aggressively this month. GBP=D3
The Canadian dollar fell 0.8 percent to C$1.2646 per dollar CAD=D4 after the Bank of Canada, as expected, left key rates unchanged, but the tone in its policy statement was not as hawkish as some traders had expected. ========================================================
Currency bid prices at 11:23AM (1523 GMT) Description
RIC
Last
U.S. Close Pct Change
YTD Pct
High Bid
Low Bid
Previous
Change
Session
Euro/Dollar
EUR=
$1.2380
$1.2370
+0.08%
+3.20%
+1.2397
+1.2343 Dollar/Yen
JPY=
107.2500
106.9900
+0.24%
-4.81%
+107.3800 +107.0100 Euro/Yen
EURJPY=
132.80
132.35
+0.34%
-1.76%
+132.9000 +132.3500 Dollar/Swiss
CHF=
0.9666
0.9660
+0.06%
-0.79%
+0.9698
+0.9651 Sterling/Dollar GBP=
1.4225
1.4286
-0.43%
+5.28%
+1.4314
+1.4174 Dollar/Canadian CAD=
1.2635
1.2545
+0.72%
+0.46%
+1.2656
+1.2548 Australian/Doll AUD=
0.7786
0.7764
+0.28%
-0.19%
+0.7797
+0.7745 ar
Euro/Swiss
EURCHF=
1.1968
1.1951
+0.14%
+2.39%
+1.1986
+1.1951 Euro/Sterling
EURGBP=
0.8701
0.8656
+0.52%
-2.05%
+0.8722
+0.8644 NZ Dollar/Dolar NZD=
0.7328
0.7341
-0.18%
+3.42%
+0.7344
+0.7305 Dollar/Norway
7.7473
7.7599
-0.16%
-5.60%
+7.7837
+7.7417 Euro/Norway
EURNOK=
9.5930
9.6008
-0.08%
-2.60%
+9.6195
+9.5937 Dollar/Sweden
SEK=
8.3885
8.4021
-0.05%
+2.28%
+8.4267
+8.3746 Euro/Sweden
EURSEK=
10.3883
10.3936
-0.05%
+5.58%
+10.4090
+10.3787
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ World FX rates in 2018
http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh
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