LONDON (AFX) - The dollar was higher against major currencies in midday trade on renewed confidence in the resilience of the US economy, dealers said. "Much of the resilience of the US dollar is due to the lack of alternative growth regions in the major economies," Michael Klawitter of West LB Research said. Euro zone PPI, economic sentiment and unemployment data were all in line with market forecasts and had little impact. "The euro zone data is not providing any support for the view that the euro zone will catch up (with the US) any time soon," Klawitter said. The changes in euro-dollar reflect changes in dollar sentiment, Klawitter said. Euro newsflow has been "fairly neutral" over the past few weeks, both in terms of economic data and the European Central Bank, Klawitter said. Klawitter does not expect the pro-dollar sentiment to change in the near term, and sees further downward trend in euro-dollar going into 2002. The market is likely to move sideways ahead of Thursday's ECB meeting and Friday's US labour market report, as jittery investors maintain a neutral stance, Klawitter said. Sterling remained weak despite a "fairly strong" CBI trade survey, feeling the aftershock from the "fairly weak" UK PMI data, Klawitter said. "There are some doubts whether the UK economy is as resilient as people thought," he added. There is also a decline in demand for sterling now the MSCI re-weighting is over, Klawitter said. The yen was weaker against the euro after Moody's lowered the rating of yen-denominated domestic securities issued or guaranteed by the government of Japan to Aa3 from Aa2 overnight. Investors are very nervous to put on long dollar-yen positions ahead of the US jobless report of Friday, Klawitter said.