(Repeats to additional subscribers)

* Focus on Yellen speech at Jackson Hole on Friday

* Muted reaction to North Korea missile news

By Jemima Kelly

LONDON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The dollar crept up on Wednesday after falling the previous day but was unable to break out of recent trading ranges, as investors eyed a meeting of central bankers on Friday for clues on when the U.S. Federal Reserve will hike interest rates again.

Policymakers from across the globe will gather in the U.S. mountain resort of Jackson Hole at the end of the week, where the focus lies squarely on a speech by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. She should provide a steer on when the Fed will follow up last December's rate hike - the first in almost ten years.

Futures markets assign a roughly one-in-five chance the hike will come in September, and 50-50 odds by the end of the year, according to CME FedWatch.

Any indication that a September hike is on the cards should produce a dollar surge, analysts said.

"We think Fed Chair Yellen's speech on Friday has the capacity to be a game changer for the dollar, and we remain positioned for dollar gains," wrote BNP Paribas strategists in a note to clients.

A raft of U.S. housing data due later in the day was not seen as likely to move the dollar much ahead of the all-important Jackson Hole meeting. Data on Tuesday that showed new U.S. single-family home sales unexpectedly rose in July, reaching their highest level in nearly nine years, had helped the dollar marginally, strategists said.

Recent hawkish comments from Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and New York Fed President William Dudley have raised some investors' expectations that Yellen might shift to a less cautious stance.

Minutes from the Fed's July 26-27 policy meeting showed officials were divided over whether to raise rates soon, with some insisting that more solid economic data were needed before any tightening.

Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar inched up 0.1 percent to 94.650.

"We're so focused on what guidance we might or might not get on Friday that we're really just drifting around in these ranges at the moment without any real direction," said RBC Capital Markets currency strategist Adam Cole.

The euro was down 0.2 percent at $1.1280 EUR= . Data on Tuesday showed that surprisingly strong growth in France supported stable euro zone private business activity during August, alleviating some concerns about negative spillover from Britain's vote to leave the European Union. br>
(Additional reporting by Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo; Editing by Toby Chopra) ((jemima.kelly@thomsonreuters.com)(+44)(0)(20 7542 7508)(Reuters Messaging: jemima.kelly.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))