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TOKYO, June 12 (Reuters) The dollar inched towards one-month highs against the euro and the pound on Monday, buoyed by U.S. trade data that kept intact expectations for interest rates to rise again later this month.

The U.S. currency got a lift on Friday from data showing the U.S.

trade deficit grew by less than expected in April, adding to a run of comments from top Federal Reserve officials last week that suggested the central bank would keep tightening monetary policy.

The market shrugged off predictions from finance ministers from the G8 economic powers, who met at the weekend, for a year of strong economic growth despite high oil prices, rising interest rates and concerns over inflation.

French Finance Minister Thierry Breton, fearing too strong a euro will hurt exports, welcomed recent developments in exchange rates.

Tokyo traders were turning their attention to revised figures for Japanese gross domestic product in the first quarter, due at 2350 GMT.

With the Bank of Japan due to meet this week, few in the market expect upbeat growth data to prompt the central bank to raise rates from near zero any faster than expectations for a rise in July at the earliest.

''The yen reaction is going to be pretty limited. It's not going to change the basic sentiment,'' said a chief trader at a European investment bank in Tokyo.

So long as the BOJ is taking its time about raising rates, ''more expectations for a rate hike in the United States are going to favour a dollar boost,'' he said.

In early Tokyo trade, the euro slipped to $1.2610 in sight of the one-month low of $1.2595 hit on electronic trading system EBS on Friday, almost four cents below a one-year high hit at the start of last week.

Sterling was at $1.8385 after slipping as low as $1.8365 after the trade data, which showed that the U.S. deficit came in at $63.4 billion in April, below expectations for a reading of $65 billion.

The dollar rose to 114.25 yen from around 114.00 yen in late U.S. trade on Friday, in sight of the six-week high of 114.74 yen touched on EBS last week.

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