LONDON (AFX) - The dollar continued stronger in quiet early trade ahead of US data due to be released later today and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting which opens tomorrow, dealers said. "Starting the week, the bias seems to be for a pretty strong dollar," Audrey Childe-Freeman of CIBC World Markets said. Trade is very light as market players await a string of important US economic numbers, including US December new home sales, Childe-Freeman said. Later in the week the focus will be on US January non-farm payrolls and the ISM index (formerly NAPM) on Friday and US fourth quarter GDP is due out on Thursday, for clues about the timing of an economic recovery. Most market participants expect the FOMC to leave US short-term interest rates unchanged at its two-day meeting starting tomorrow. In Europe, the German Jan Ifo Index was stronger than expected rising to 86.3 in January from 85.8 in December, compared to the consensus forecast of a rise to 86.0. However, the euro was little changed following the stronger-than-expected reading, remaining weaker against the dollar and firmer against sterling. Any weakness in the Ifo reading could have accelerated the euro's slide, Childe-Freeman said. She said the euro is particularly vulnerable to weak euro zone data at the moment as people are starting to feel that the relative growth prospects favour the US. The yen was little firmer against the dollar. "We've seen the dollar lose a little bit of ground against the yen on short covering," Childe-Freeman said. However, the fundamentals continue to support a strong dollar, she added. "The trend remains for a weak yen," she said. Sterling was weaker against the dollar, moving below the 1.41 level. "The weakness in euro-dollar is not helping cable (sterling-dollar)," she said. With a lack of data releases on the domestic front this week, Childe-Freeman said the focus for sterling trade will be on news from the US and Europe.