SINGAPORE, May 12 Reuters The U.S. dollar was little changed on Friday but was heading for its biggest weekly gain since February.

The euro was down marginally against the dollar at 1.091, after falling to its lowest since April 11 the previous day at 1.09.

Analysts said that the dollar may have benefited from its status as a safehaven investment this week, with the U.S. debt ceiling standoff and some further worries about banks unnerving investors.

Shares in U.S. lender PacWest plunged 23 on Thursday after revealing a sharp drop in deposits.

Analysts also said the dollar was likely just rebounding after a period of weakness.

We are entering a more defensive state generally, Carl Hammer, chief strategist at European bank SEB, said.

The dollar index was unchanged at 102.09 on Friday, on its way to a weekly gain of 0.82.

But the overall trend for the greenback remained down. It has fallen more than 11 since hitting a 20year high last year and has slipped in seven of the last nine weeks.

A sharp slowdown in U.S. inflation has been a key driver, as has Europe39;s betterthanexpected economic performance, which has pushed up the euro.

U.S. consumer price index CPI inflation cooled to 4.9 yearonyear in April, data showed this week. On Thursday, data showed that weekly jobless claims rose more than expected, in the latest sign of a slowing employment market.

Many analysts expect the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates at the 55.25 level it raised them to last…