The US dollar was firmer against other major currencies in afternoon trading here, after US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke gave a new warning about inflation and flagged a further increase in US interest rates, dealers said. At 12.45 pm (0345 GMT) here, the euro was at 1.2887 usd, down from 1.2899 usd in Sydney just over 3-1/2 hours earlier. The dollar was at 112.40 yen, up from 112.28 yen in Sydney. Bernanke told an international monetary conference yesterday that while rising energy costs had helped slow the pace of US economic growth, core inflation, excluding energy and food, was near the central bank's tolerance level and could warrant further rate tightening. "The dollar got support from his hawkish comments, which helped dampen expectations which were evident in the market just yesterday that the US Fed would pause in its series of rate hikes, and revived speculation that it will make another rate hike at the June meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee," said Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ forex analyst Masashi Hashimoto. But dealers said the dollar is expected to remain top-heavy because of heavy selling pressure by Japanese exporters and uncertainty about the outlook for US interest rates in the months after the next meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). "Bernanke's comments did not imply that the US Fed will continue to hike interest rates beyond the June FOMC meeting, which will weigh heavily on the top side of the dollar," Hashimoto said. Any gains of the dollar were also limited while the market awaits the release later this week of the US trade balance data for April, and the weekend meeting of G8 finance ministers and central bankers, dealers said.