TOKYO, Feb 27 Reuters The dollar traded on the back foot on Tuesday, as markets looked ahead to a week of U.S. economic data that will provide fresh signals on how soon the Federal Reserve may begin cutting interest rates.

Leading cryptocurrency bitcoin soared to a more than twoyear high above 57,000, helped by enterprise software firm MicroStrategy Inc39;s announcement that it had bought about 3,000 more of the tokens.

The yen was firmer after consumer inflation data topped estimates, reinforcing expectations that the Bank of Japan is still on track to exit negative rates as soon as next month.

The U.S. dollar index , which measures the currency against a basket of peers including the yen, euro and sterling, traded flat at 103.77 in Asian time, following a 0.17 slide on Monday.

Markets have all but ruled out a cut at the Fed39;s March meeting and have recently pushed back expectations for a cut to June from May, CME39;s FedWatch Tool showed, following strong U.S. consumer and producer price data.

U.S. durable goods data is due later on Tuesday, while January39;s U.S. personal consumption expenditures price index, which is the Fed39;s preferred measure of inflation, will be released on Thursday.

A still softish DXY dollar index doesn39;t quite convey the USD39;s story right here … and, if anything, key upcoming event risk can potentially fuel another leg up, Westpac39;s head of FX strategy, Richard Franulovich, wrote in a note.

The bulk of DXY39;s gains this…