The dollar hit a six-week high against the euro on Monday as investors trimmed their hefty bets favouring the single European currency, while the yen edged up as traders braced for a Group of Seven meeting later this week. Traders said the yen is likely to stay firm after surging to a one-month high against the euro last week on remarks by a German finance ministry official that the Japanese currency's weakness would be discussed at the G7 meeting on Saturday. Such wariness before the G7 meeting in Singapore would likely help the yen in the near term, especially if finance ministers keep up their pressure on countries enjoying big trade surpluses like China to allow more currency strength. But the dollar is looking brighter against other currencies like the euro and sterling after having broken above the ranges that had dominated the market over the past month and a half. "On the one hand the dollar is strong, but if you think about moves in the yen on the crosses and about the G7, there is this idea that it's hard to sell the yen," said a trader for a Japanese brokerage house. The yen surrendered gains versus the dollar after Japanese data showed core machinery orders plunged 16.7 percent in July from the previous month, the biggest one-month drop since the government began compiling the data in 1987. Economists said the drop in orders was payback for a surprisingly strong gain in June and that the overall trend for capital spending was still upbeat. The dollar slipped slightly to 116.80 yen from 116.95 yen in late U.S. trading on Friday. The euro fell to a six-week low of $1.2647 on electronic trading platform EBS before clawing back to $1.2690 Against the yen, the euro was little changed near 148.20 yen and holding above the one-month low of 147.56 struck on EBS last Friday.