SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China"s yuan was little changed on Thursday, pausing after a sharp pull-back earlier in the week and hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data which is prompting traders to reassess their bearish outlook for the dollar. Traders said strong foreign exchange demand by overseas-listed Chinese firms to make dividend payments would also continue to weigh on the yuan in the near term. "It"s really hard to say if (U.S.) inflation data reflects a short-term phenomenon or a long-term one. But at the moment it doesn"t look anymore like the dollar index is going to fall through 90," said a trader at a foreign bank. U.S. consumer prices increased by the most in nearly 12 years in April as booming demand amid a reopening economy pushed against supply constraints, data on Wednesday showed. That bolstered the dollar and pushed benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yields to a five-week high. After a sharp yuan drop against the dollar on Wednesday, the People"s Bank of China set the yuan"s daily midpoint rate at 6.4612 per dollar prior to market open, weaker than market expectations and the biggest single-day weakening since March 9. The yuan had risen to a near three-year high against the dollar on Monday amid expectations of prolonged dollar weakness and ultra-easy U.S. monetary policy. Spot yuan opened at 6.4560 per dollar and traded at 6.4552 by midday, just 23 pips stronger than Wednesday"s late session close. The offshore yuan edged up to 6.4537 per dollar from a close of 6.4601. Ken Cheung, Asian FX strategist at Mizuho Bank, said the yuan would likely prove resilient once the Federal Reserve does start tapering as China had avoided sharp cuts in policy rates seen in the United States and elsewhere in the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. "(The U.S. Treasury) yield differential should help defend the CNY exchange rate," he said. Chinese money and lending data on Wednesday showed bank lending and broader credit slowed more than expected in April as the central bank gradually scales back pandemic-drive stimulus, but it did not point to a sudden change in policy towards tightening, analysts said. "The significant slowdown of TSF growth in April did not suggest underlying credit demand weakened materially, as activity growth and firms" expectation remained robust in April, at least suggested by PMI data. It also did not suggest policy tightened significantly, as interbank interest rates were broadly stable," analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note. The yuan market at 4:16AM GMT: ONSHORE SPOT: Item Current Previous Change PBOC midpoint 6.4612 6.4258 -0.55% Spot yuan 6.4552 6.4575 0.04% Divergence from -0.09% midpoint* Spot change YTD 1.13% Spot change since 2005 28.21% revaluation Key indexes: Item Current Previous Change Thomson 97.4 97.19 0.2 Reuters/HKEX CNH index Dollar index 90.777 90.742 0.0 *Divergence of the dollar/yuan exchange rate. Negative number indicates that spot yuan is trading stronger than the midpoint. The People"s Bank of China (PBOC) allows the exchange rate to rise or fall 2% from official midpoint rate it sets each morning. OFFSHORE CNH MARKET Instrument Current Difference from onshore Offshore spot yuan 6.4537 0.02% * Offshore 6.6117 -2.28% non-deliverable forwards ** *Premium for offshore spot over onshore **Figure reflects difference from PBOC"s official midpoint, since non-deliverable forwards are settled against the midpoint. . (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Additional reporting by Xiao Han in Beijing; Editing by Kim Coghill) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.