Dollar holds broad gains, trades at 6-year high vs. yen

The U.S. dollar powered to a six years high against the Japanese yen, extending rally into a fourth straight sessions, while pound recovered some ground as Scotland woes ease.

Indeed, the greenback has been a star performer in the past few weeks, partly because investors are again getting nervous about when the Federal Reserve might start to lift interest rates.

The dollar looked strong across the board, trading at 84.21 against a basket of major currencies, near a 14-month high of 84.519 reached on Tuesday.

Dollar will likely remain strong until the Federal Reserve`s two-day policy meeting next week that could provide clues on when the U.S. central bank would hike rates.

The greenback traded above 107 yen for the first time since September 2008 in early Thursday, taking its gains to almost 2 percent this week. The USDJPY pair is currently trading at ¥106.985 after opening at ¥106.841.

Scotland voting for independence showed missed results this week. A poll late on Wednesday showed 53 percent of Scots intended to vote against a split from the UK, in contrast to a YouGov poll over the weekend showing 51 percent were in favour.

The report helped pull the pound back from 10-month lows against the dollar. Sterling added 0.30 percent or 0.0048 points to trade at $1.62602 after opening at $1.62063.