LONDON (AFX) - Major currencies were stuck in narrow ranges against each other in early trade with the dollar looking well underpinned ahead of the Fed's beige book, due to be released late this afternoon, dealers said. The market was also increasingly uncertain whether the European Central Bank will indeed cut rates at its meeting on Thursday, keeping a check on any gain the euro may have otherwise made. In turn, the threat of bio-terrorism in the US kept the dollar from rising steadily. " But it looks like there is cope for the dollar to advance," Razia Khan, economist at Standard Chartered said. The main focus for the day will be the Beige book. Lately there has been some hope that the Fed's aggressive rate cuts will lead the US to perform better than most of Europe and Japan. There are some expectations that the Beige book will reflect this, she added. In the meanwhile, hopes for an ECB rate cut receded when German and Italian inflation data came in slightly stronger than expected. The first German state to release October inflation data, Baden-Wuerttemberg, saw the October CPI fall 0.2 pct on the month compared to consensus expectations of a 0.3 pct decline. The drop corresponds with the German annual inflation rate staying at 2.1 pct, a Credit Suisse First Boston report said. Preliminary Italian CPIs were also stronger than may have been hoped, as a consequence of stronger food prices. These data along with ECB head Wim Duisenberg's comments over the weekend, appears to indicate that the bank will not cut rates at its meeting today, CSFB added. But industrial confidence in Italy was very weak, emphasising what the German Ifo survey had indicated. Sterling was little changed amid the lack of individual impetus to move it higher. The UK Confederation of British Industry's quarterly industrial trends survey due out at 11 am, may provide direction but it is likely to be a negative lead, Khan at Standard Chartered said.