* Dollar index crawls off 9-month lows plumbed on Friday
* But gains limited with peers like euro, pound well supported
* Japan ruling party suffers Tokyo poll defeat, yen little moved
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - The dollar edged off from a nine-month low against a basket of currencies early on Monday, but it remained shaky as signs central banks in Europe were moving away from accommodative monetary policies kept the euro and sterling well bid.
The dollar index against a group of six major currencies was 0.05 percent higher at 95.675 .DXY , crawling off a nine-month trough of 95.470 plumbed on Friday.
The greenback was hit hard last week as hawkish comments from central bankers increased expectations that the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and Bank of Canada would eventually shift to tighter monetary policy. dollar was little changed at 112.290 yen JPY= after briefly falling to 111.900 earlier before climbing back quickly.
The dip was seen as a knee-jerk reaction to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party suffering an historic defeat in an election in the capital Tokyo on Sunday, signalling potential trouble ahead for the premier. Tokyo election won't have a strong market impact, in my view, as there are no opposition parties in Japan that can immediately replace the (ruling) LDP," said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities.
"The currency market is more focused on monetary policy changes in Europe and other regions. That the BoE and BOC now appear to be in a hurry to normalise monetary policy was a big surprise last week."
The euro was 0.05 percent lower at $1.1422 EUR= after reaching a near 14-month high of $1.1445 on Friday.
Scepticism that the Federal Reserve would be able to raise interest rates again this year amid a recent batch of weak U.S. economic data have further boosted the euro.
The pound was down 0.1 percent at $1.3015 GBP=D3 following an advance on Friday to $1.3030, its strongest since May 23.
The Canadian dollar was 0.1 percent weaker at C$1.2979 per dollar CAD=D4 . It was still within reach of C$1.2947, its strongest in nine-months, marked on Friday thanks to higher oil prices and a central bank report that further bolstered rate hike expectations.
Canadian companies are more optimistic about future sales and exports, while improving demand is driving capacity pressures that should boost investment and hiring, the BOC said in a report on Friday. Australian and New Zealand dollars were little changed at $0.7691 AUD=D4 and $0.7329 NZD=D4 , respectively.