The US dollar was firmer against the yen in early afternoon trade, recovering from its weakness Friday on a technical correction, with dealers reluctant to trade actively ahead of the speech of US Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan in Tokyo tomorrow, dealers said. Analysts said the softer-than-expected US consumer price index (CPI) data released Friday helped trigger bouts of dollar-selling, with dealers opting to cash in on gains in recent rallies. "After surging above the 115 yen mark last Thursday, many traders opted to lock in profits on the softer core CPI data," said Masashi Hashimoto, a currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd. US September CPI rose 1.2 pct, the steepest in 25 years, due to a spike in energy costs. But the core CPI, which excludes food and energy, gained just 0.1 pct instead of the 0.2 pct rise expected initially. Thomson Financial's IFR Forex Watch senior analyst Harry Ida said the dollar's slide Friday was also prompted by the unwinding of proprietary and client positions of US brokerage Refco Securities in the wake of the scandal involving the chief executive of its parent Refco, the US' largest futures intermediary. "The dollar seems to be in a short-term correction phase. It could fall to the 113 yen level or even breach that level downward this week," Ida said, adding however that the uptrend of the US unit in the longer term remains unchanged.