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Dollar

NEW YORK: Aided by a faltering mark, the dollar was up incrementally at midday but could not muster enough interest to storm the recent highs, set Thursday and earlier Friday.

But dealers said many market playes are looking to get long dollars and the planets could be aligning for a blast-off into higher ranges soon.

At midday, the dollar stood at 1.5031/39 marks, up from 1.5014/21 at the open and at 108.61/68 yen, up from 108.56/61.

A higher-than-expected 0.4 percent gain in March U.S. consumer prices Friday and a weaker-than-forecast 0.1 percent rise in March retail sales preceded a jump in the price of the 30-year Treasury bond, which rose nearly a point by midday.

The dollar posted fresh 26-month highs near 109.00 against the yen in Asia but was tightly bound mid-range in U.S. trade.

In other trade, the dollar rose to 1.2232/39 Swiss francs from 1.2211/16 at the open and to Canadian $1.3561/66 from C$1.3554/59.

The pound fell to $1.5121/29 from $1.5139/46 at the open and the Australian dollar stood at$0.7908/13.