The dollar held near an 18-month high on Thursday after FOMC minutes showed inflation remains a top risk for the US central bank. Westpac analysts said, "The FOMC’s minutes reinforced the hawkish tone accompanying the Fed’s September rate hike." Meanwhile, the dollar fell slightly against the Japanese yen today.

SINGAPORE, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The dollar held near its strongest level in a year-and-a-half in subdued trading at the start of the Asian session on ​Thursday, after hawkish minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee signaled policymakers ‌at the US central bank viewed inflation as the biggest risk to their outlook.

The dollar index , which measures its strength against a basket of six currencies, was steady at 102.23 after ​rising 0.3% on Wednesday. The greenback remains within a few pips of ​its strongest levels since April 9, 2025, following the market turmoil ⁠that accompanied the so-called Liberation Day tariff announcement the previous week.

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Federal Reserve policymakers ​voted unanimously to raise interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point ​at the US central bank's September 15-16 meeting, but minutes released Wednesday indicated divisions over their rationale for doing so.

"The FOMC’s minutes reinforced the hawkish tone accompanying the Fed’s September rate hike, ​with most participants still viewing further tightening as appropriate and almost all seeing ​inflation risks tilted to the upside at the time of the meeting," Westpac analysts wrote.

The ‌minutes did ⁠little to shift expectations that the Fed will refrain from hiking at its meeting later this month. Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 19% probability of a 25-basis-point hike at the US central bank's next two-day meeting ending Oct ​28, unchanged from a ​day earlier, according ⁠to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Against the yen , the US dollar was down 0.2% at 157.815 yen after data released ​on Thursday showed Japan's current account surplus stood at 4.062 trillion ​yen ($25.7 billion) ⁠in August, higher than economists' median forecast for a surplus of 3.19 trillion yen.

The Australian dollar and its kiwi counterpart were both flat at $0.6960 and $0.5600 respectively.

Against the Chinese ⁠yuan , the ​US dollar was flat at 6.7015 yuan in ​offshore trade.

The euro was flat at $1.1201, while the British pound was also unchanged at $1.3215.

Bitcoin slipped 0.2% to $83,233.40 ​while ether nudged 0.1% lower to $2,571.07.

Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; editing by Lincoln Feast.