The US dollar shook off early lethargy to end the Asian session slightly weaker, though trade volumes were very thin before the release of US capital flows data later today, and owing to a holiday in Japan, dealers said At 3.15 pm (0715 GMT) here, the US dollar was at 112.14 yen, down from 112.25 yen just over three hours earlier in trading in Sydney. The euro was at 1.2069 usd, up from 1.2049 in Sydney. Flows were at a minimum, with the closure of Japanese markets, and as players hugged the sidelines ahead of the May US Treasury International Capital flows data, which show foreign demand for long-term US assets, dealers said. The median estimate in a Market News International survey of economists looks for foreign demand at 55 bln usd in May. If the figure is as the market expects, that will be seen as sufficient to cover the US trade deficit in May, reported at 55.3 bln usd, and should help further ease concerns about an unsustainable trade gap "Sentiment is still skewed largely in the dollar's favor, though there may be some volatility because of the imminent events in the pipeline," said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's Singapore economist, Wong Keng Siong. Further dollar support could come later in the week when US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan makes his semi-annual address to Congress about the US economy. He is expected to provide an upbeat assessment of economic conditions, underpinning views that the Fed will continue to raise interest rates "In our judgment, chairman Greenspan is expected to reinforce the perception that the [Federal Open Market Committee] would continue to normalize the target Fed funds rate in the coming months," a currency strategist at Singapore's United Overseas Bank said "Greenspan would also be expected to underscore that the US economy has remained reasonably firm at mid-year against the backdrop of contained underlying inflation," the UOB strategist said.