SHANGHAI, July 6 (Reuters) - China"s yuan ticked higher against the dollar on Tuesday on a firmer official guidance, with investors awaiting minutes from the Federal Reserve"s last policy meeting and China"s June inflation data before betting on the currency"s move. Traders said the two events could bring some volatility to the yuan trading as the Fed minutes due on Wednesday could offer more details on U.S. policymakers" thinking over the timing to pare back stimulus, while China"s consumer inflation data due out on Friday could influence the People"s Bank of China stance on tightening monetary policy. Prior to market opening, PBOC set the midpoint rate at 6.4613 per dollar, 82 pips or 0.13% firmer than the previous fix of 6.4695. In the spot market, onshore yuan opened at 6.4619 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.4617 at midday, 22 pips firmer than the previous late session close. Strategists at OCBC Bank said the sentiment was neutral as the yuan traded in the "middle of the multi-session range between 6.44 and 6.49 per dollar". "Preference is to buy dips towards range lows at 6.4400/500," they recommended in a note. Meanwhile, some analysts said both official and private surveys in June showed that the services sector was still expanding, but not as fast. "The weakening price growth in the services industry once again underlines the muted transmission of PPI to service CPI, suggesting that our forecast of limited CPI inflationary pressures remains on the right track," Song Shanshan, economist for Greater China at HSBC, said in a note. Song expects the PBOC would not rush into tightening and was likely to keep lending benchmark rate unchanged through the end of next year. By midday, the global dollar index fell to 92.142 from the previous close of 92.247, while the offshore yuan was trading at 6.4633 per dollar. The yuan market at 0407 GMT: ONSHORE SPOT: Item Current Previous Change PBOC midpoint 6.4613 6.4695 0.13% Spot yuan 6.4617 6.4639 0.03% Divergence from 0.01% midpoint* Spot change YTD 1.03% Spot change since 2005 28.09% revaluation Key indexes: Item Current Previous Change Thomson 98.03 98.13 -0.1 Reuters/HKEX CNH index Dollar index 92.142 92.247 -0.1 *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 6.4633 -0.02% * Offshore 6.6295 -2.54% 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 Winni Zhou and Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.