TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - The euro rose on Thursday to near a one-week high ahead of a European Central Bank monetary policy decision where officials are expected to leave interest rates unchanged while signaling a possible increase in September, amid rising energy prices that threaten to push up inflation.

The European Central Bank raised interest rates in June and hinted at further monetary tightening in the future, but a string of positive data on prices, wages, economic activity and inflation expectations over the past few weeks has reduced the likelihood of a rapid rate hike.

However, rising oil prices caused by escalating tensions in the Middle East could prompt the bank to adjust interest rates to prevent the energy shock from triggering a wider price spiral.

“We have indicated that there is little risk that the European Central Bank will decide to raise interest rates early,” said Samara Hammoud, an international economist and currency analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in a note.

The euro rose 0.17 percent in the latest trading to $1.1429.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against a basket of currencies including the euro and the yen, fell 0.13 percent to 100.98.

The US dollar has recently benefited from escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Oil prices rose more than 1.5 percent during trading on Thursday in Asian markets to reach their highest levels in more than six weeks, after the United States launched a new round of strikes on Iran, and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced military attacks on oil tankers in the Red Sea.

The Australian dollar rose 0.23 percent to $0.7012, while the New Zealand dollar traded at $0.5818. The British pound gained nearly 0.1 percent to $1.3384.

The yen rose 0.04 percent to 163.05 per dollar.

As for cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin fell 0.5 percent to $65,557.35, and Ether dropped 0.44 percent to $1,917.65.