Dollar inches up vs yen as G20 shrugged off

TOKYO, Nov 20 (Reuters) The dollar edged up against the yen on Monday, brushing off a weekend meeting of Group of 20 countries that discussed currency values but offered few surprises.

The world's main economies face growing inflation risks but prospects for economic growth are strong, G20 financial leaders said on Sunday after a two-day meeting that also featured fresh calls for more foreign exchange flexibility.

The group did not mention China by name when referring to currency policy, but officials signalled the G20 clearly had the economic superpower in mind.

''There weren't as many comments to check the yen's weakness as had been expected,'' said Kengo Suzuki, currency strategist for Shinko Securities. ''The impact on the foreign exchange market from the G20 seems very limited.'' In early Tokyo trade the dollar edged up to 117.90 yen from around 117.75 yen in late U.S. trading on Friday, when it fell on soft U.S. housing starts data and on rumours, later denied, that a U.S. hedge fund was in trouble.

The euro was little changed at $1.2825 and a tad higher at 151.15 yen, within sight of a record high of 151.48 yen matched last week.

The housing starts figures dented the dollar, as they gave a slight boost to expectations in the market that the Federal Reserve might cut rates next March.

But the data, by itself, seemed to lack the punch to fundamentally alter the market's expectations for a soft-landing in the U.S. economy and for the Fed to keep rates on hold at 5.25 percent for a while, a Japanese trust bank trader said.

This is especially true since data released on Thursday had shown improved U.S. homebuilder sentiment for the second straight month in November, the trader said.

If Japanese retail investors put upcoming winter bonuses into investment trusts that invest in foreign assets, the dollar could get some support against the yen, he said.

REUTERS DKS PM0615