LONDON, Oct 15 - The dollar held steady on Wednesday after backing off one-week highs on the euro and the yen and kept a tight range ahead of U.S. retail sales data and U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Asia later in the week. The dollar hit one-week highs against the euro and yen on Tuesday, buoyed by optimism on U.S. corporate earnings. But it erased all the gains after Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported Bush warned against Japanese market intervention to weaken yen. Bush also told reporters that markets should determine currency rates and that he would use his trip to Asia to press China and Japan to stop trying to weaken their currencies. He departs for Japan on Thursday and plans to attend a summit in Bangkok starting on Monday. By 0643 GMT the dollar was steady on the day at $1.1740 , having risen to a high of $1.1580 in the previous session. Against the yen it was at 108.98 after rising above 110.25 on Tuesday. U.S. stocks rose to fresh highs for the year on Tuesday after companies reported solid profits.
U.S. retail sales, excluding car and truck sales, are expected to have risen 0.4 percent in September after a robust 0.7 perent gain in August. The New York Federal Reserve's manufacturing survey, known as the Empire State survey, is due at 1230 GMT. The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, an anecdotal narrative of business conditions around the nations, is also due. But traders were cautious in pushing the dollar either way especially against the yen ahead of U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Tokyo later in the week. Japan's top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said authorities would not rule out taking appropriate steps in the currency market if sudden movements negatively affected the economy.//