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Dollar climbs

NEW YORK: The dollar lingered near session highs at midday, aided in part by an unwillingness to short greenbacks before a gathering of financial ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) major industrial powers on Sunday, dealers and analysts said.

"I think it's just the G7 meeting", said I.D.E.A. Inc currency strategist Brian Garvey. "You probably don't want to be too short heading into it".

The dollar rose to 1.5065/73 marks at midday from 1.5015/20 at the open. It climbed to 107.05/12 yen from 106.80/90.

Shortly after midday, dollar/mark sliced through resistance at 1.5070/75 to climb briefly above 1.51.

The 1.5135 marks level, the high from Thursday, is just shy of 1.5136 marks, a 14-month high hit on Monday.

Mark/yen's drop below 71.00 could benefit the dollar versus some European currencies. Strauss contends there will be some spillover momentum into dollar/Europe from the decline in mark/yen below 71.00.

In other trade, the dollar was at 1.2250/60 Swiss francs at 1300 EDT/1700 GMT, up from 1.2172/82 at the open.

Sterling fell to $1.5155/65 from $1.5184/91 at the open. The dollar stood at Canadian $1.3610/15, down from C$1.3631/36.-Reuter