Hong Kong, July 27 (BridgeNews) - Major currencies saw more consolidation in a quiet session Friday morning in Asia as the market awaits the release of second quarter U.S. gross domestic product later Friday. Although pressured initially by profit-taking/selling, the euro rose slightly against the dollar and the yen from New York closing levels on short-covering. Euro/dollar dipped from 0.8780 to 0.8765 in early morning trade before rebounding to 0.8785 on euro/yen buying and euro/Swiss franc buying. Some dealers talk of buy-orders to cut losses waiting above 0.8790, which could help push up euro/dollar above 0.8800, but others said offers are waiting up to 0.8800 and loss-cut orders above 0.8805. Euro/yen fell to a low of 108.43 on the back of dollar/yen's declines in early morning trade, but rebounded to 108.78 on a U.S. name buying out of Tokyo. Despite a Financial Times report that said U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown have drawn up a timetable for a euro referendum, with Downing Street favoring autumn 2002, the European single currency has stalled against the sterling in the 0.6135-50 area. The U.K. Treasury later dismissed the report. A Treasury spokesman called the story a "complete fabrication" while Downing Street sought to play it down, saying that the government's position on the single European currency remained the same. The FT said that spring 2003 was the second choice for Blair and Brown, and that later dates were not ruled out, but the issue would become more difficult as the next British general election approached. In other currency trading, dollar/yen was confined in a tight 21-point range as of 1200 JT. The pair fell on Japanese investor selling from above 123.80 in early morning trade. However, the market lacked follow-through action, while momentum is so slow. It later rebounded on euro/yen buying, but the rise was again capped near the 123.80 area where dealers said offers are waiting. On the data front, the preliminary consumer price index for Tokyo metropolitan area in July stood at 99.5, down 0.9% from a year earlier and down 0.4% from June, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications announced Friday. The nationwide CPI in June was down 0.5% on year and down 0.3% on month, the ministry said. Meanwhile, Japanese shares ended the morning session virtually flat, with falls in high-tech shares after Sony Corp.'s disappointing results offset by rotational buying of domestic demand-related shares. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed the morning session down 4.32 points, or 0.04%, at 11,854.24. End