FOREX-Dollar gains after mixed U.S. corporate results

* Uncertainty on US corporate outlook supports dollar, yen

* Euro falls, fails to hold gains above $1.41

* Weak GE, Bank of America earnings boost dollar (Updates prices, adds U.S. data, comment, change byline, dateline, PREVIOUS London)

NEW YORK, July 17 - The dollar firmed on Friday after a mixed batch of U.S. corporate earnings raised some concern about the economy and enhanced the dollar's safe-haven appeal at the expense of stocks and higher-yield currencies.

General Electric Co said profits fell by almost half in the second quarter, a deeper decline than expected, while Bank of America also reported a lower quarterly profit. Citigroup posted a narrower-than-expected loss.

U.S. stock futures dipped on the news and investors shied away from currencies perceived to carry higher risk such as the euro and Australian dollar in favor of the greenback and yen.

The market cheered stellar earnings from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase earlier this week as well as big corporations such as Intel, but investors were reluctant to get too optimistic.

"There's reason for optimism, but it seems we need to see a grand slam for people to get carried away. This underlines that the market is still skeptical and afraid to get overextended," said Steven Butler, head of FX trading at Scotia Capital in Toronto.

The euro's failure to hold gains above $1.41 illustrates that unease, he said, adding, "it still feels like we're one bad number away from things turning negative again."

The euro was down 0.5 percent at $1.4075 after rising to $1.4144 earlier. It fell 0.5 percent to 132.10 yen. The dollar was flat at 93.87 yen.

An index that measures the dollar against a basket of major currencies added 0.5 percent after falling to a six-week low the previous day, while sterling fell 0.9 percent to $1.6285.

Bomb blasts at hotels in Indonesia also dampened risk sentiment, though most analysts did not expect any lasting effect on markets.

Markets shrugged off euro zone trade data for May, which showed a surplus of 1.9 billion euros and U.S. data showing a larger-than-expected rise in building permits for new U.S. homes.

Reaction was also muted to comments from Rintaro Tamaki, Japan's top financial diplomat, who said the dollar will remain a core asset in Japan's $1 trillion of currency reserves.

Tamaki also said he would not completely rule out currency intervention but that foreign exchange rates should be determined by the market.

"The U.S. earnings season is not over yet and the market will remain very uncertain and volatile until a clearer picture emerges on how the U.S. corporate sector has come through the second quarter," said Audrey Childe-Freeman, strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in London. "The current uncertainty is helping the dollar higher."