LONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The dollar held steady

against a range of currencies on Wednesday while the yen

strengthened, as traders focused on talks over a Ukraine

ceasefire and digested the latest round of tariff threats from

U.S. President Donald Trump.

The pound, meanwhile, got a small lift from a

stronger-than-expected UK inflation print.

The dollar index last stood at 107.06, up 0.047%

after dropping 1.2% last week. The yen was stronger against the

dollar, up 0.24% at 151.675.

Trump's administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold

more talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine after an

initial meeting that excluded Kyiv, a departure from

Washington's previous approach that rallied U.S. allies to

isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Francesco Pesole, forex strategist at ING, pointed to the

market's base case that a peace deal in Ukraine might be reached

at some point. Meanwhile, the EU's exclusion from the table at

peace talks is seen as spurring safe-haven demand into the yen

and out of the euro, he said.

The euro was last down 0.35% against the yen at

158.415, while holding relatively flat against the dollar

at $1.0443.

Pesole highlighted the latest raft of tariff threats from

Trump, but said the market is more focused on news around a

potential Ukraine peace deal in the short-term.

"There is a residual sort of reluctance in markets to see

whether Trump will indeed go ahead with tariffs on trade

partners," he said.

Trump said on Tuesday he intends to impose auto tariffs "in

the neighborhood of 25%" and similar duties on semiconductors

and pharmaceutical imports, the latest in a series of measures

threatening to upend international trade.

In a note, Commerzbank FX analysts/strategists said that the

currency market is largely ignoring the news.

"Amid all this chaotic, childish back and forth of the

presidential tariff announcements, let's not lose sight of what

will ultimately come out of it: probably fewer tariffs than

expected when he took office, but still substantial ones," they

wrote.

In the UK, official data showed inflation speeding up by

more than expected to hit a 10-month high of 3.0% in January and

is likely to rise further soon, testing the Bank of England's

confidence that price pressures will ease over the longer term.

Sterling was up 0.1% at $1.26150, marching to a

fresh two-month high immediately after the data before tempering

gains.

Against the euro, the pound was up 0.1% at

82.775 pence. Pesole said the relatively safe position of the UK

on trade and the latest inflation figures made the pound more

attractive than the euro.

Elsewhere, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand reduced its

benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 3.75% on Wednesday as

widely expected and signalled future moves would likely be

smaller, leaving the currency up 0.4% on the day at $0.57270

.