The US dollar had a firmer tone against the yen in afternoon trading here, the yen having been depressed earlier in the Asian session by the release of data showing tamer-than-expected consumer inflation in Japan last month, dealers said. Japan's core consumer price index, which excludes volatile prices of fresh food but includes energy prices, was 0.1 pct higher last month than a year before, increasing for the seventh straight month, but rising more slowly than economists had expected. Economists had forecast, on average, a rise of 0.2 pct. The market inferred from this the Bank of Japan was less likely to increase interest rates next month, dealers said. "But the impact was limited, with this week's events keeping markets nervous about shorting the yen," UBS said in a market note. In the afternoon here, the dollar traded between 121.30 yen and 121.60 yen. As trading drew to a close, the euro was only slightly below its level of 1.2936 usd in late deals in New York overnight, when it had come under mild pressure after the Ifo index of the business climate in Germany for this month turned out to be lower than last month's, the market having expected a rise. One dealer said: "Direct euro-dollar interest has been minimal. The currency has been mostly dominated by cross plays." Later today, the US durable goods orders data and new home sales data for last month are due to be released. The results of Market News International surveys indicate that the market expects durable goods orders to have increased by 3.0 pct and sales of new homes to have risen very slightly.