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TOKYO, July 19 (Reuters) The dollar held near a three-month high against the euro and the yen on Wednesday ahead of congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who traders expect will offer more clues into whether U.S. interest rates will keep rising.

The market was also hoping to see whether U.S. consumer price figures for June due later in the session would indicate that ongoing inflation risks would require the Fed to keep up its two-year credit-tightening cycle after data on Tuesday showed a hefty rise in producer prices in the same month.

Traders said bubbling anticipation that the Fed could raise rates for the 18th consecutive time to 5.5 percent at its August meeting would continue to support the dollar, along with flows into the currency from investors fleeing riskier assets as tensions in the Middle East escalate.

''We're expecting Bernanke to be fairly hawkish today, and the dollar is continuing to benefit from safe-haven buying,'' said Nobuaki Kubo, a forex planning manager at Resona Bank.

''Basically, it's going to be hard to sell the dollar in the short term.'' U.S. core CPI is expected to have risen 0.2 percent in June from the previous month, according to a Reuters poll. The data is due at 1230 GMT. Bernanke will give his semiannual monetary policy testimony to the U.S. Congress at 1400 GMT. The dollar traded around $1.25 against the euro in early Tokyo trading after climbing on Tuesday to $1.2473, its highest level since late April.

Against the yen it was hovering at 117.30 yen not far from a three-month peak of 117.59 yen hit in the previous session.

The U.S. currency also held close to a three-month high against the Swiss franc touched on Tuesday. The Swiss currency traded at 1.2530 per dollar, after slipping to around 1.2557, its lowest level since late April.

The dollar gained broadly on Tuesday after data showing U.S.

producer prices for June rose 0.5 percent from the previous month, topping forecasts for a 0.3 percent climb, suggesting that the Fed may keep lifting rates to combat inflation.

Core PPI, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.2 percent, in line with expectations.

Also boosting the currency was data showing that the United States attracted a net $69.6 billion of capital inflows in May, more than enough to cover that month's trade deficit of $63.8 billion.

Reuters DKS GC0611