Dollar set for the best week in 10 months, euro little changed

The dollar headed for its biggest weekly advance in 10 months against major peers, holding near a six-years high against the Japanese yen with U.S. data today predicted to show strengthening retail sales, adding to the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

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.

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, taking its gains to above 2 percent this week. The USDJPY pair is currently trading at ¥107.180 after opening at ¥107.093.

Investors will be closely looking at the U.S. retail sales report. Retail sales rose 0.6 percent in August after stagnating the previous month, a report today is forecast to show, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg.

The Scottish independence referendum – now seven days away – still casts a long shadow over financial markets.  Sterling added 0.03 percent or 0.0005 points to trade at $1.62604 after opening at $1.62521.

Yesterday, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney yesterday added fuel to the debate after he said that an independent Scotland would need to build up billions of pounds worth of currency reserves if it did not agree a currency union with the UK but wanted to keep the pound.

The euro, hammered by worsening economic numbers and further easing of monetary policy by the European Central Bank in the past month, has begun bounce off lows hit earlier this week.

The EURUSD pair is currently trading at $1.29260 after starting the day at $1.29225. The pair so far hit intraday high at $1.29325 and low at $1.29138.