* Fed speakers reinforce likelihood of U.S. rate hike
* Unexpectedly strong U.S. consumer sentiment report boosts
dollar
* Greenback shakes off weak U.S. retail sales
* Dollar headed for positive week vs euro, Swiss franc
(Updates to late U.S. trading, refreshes rates, adds quote)
By Dion Rabouin
NEW YORK, Nov 13 (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Friday as
statements from Federal Reserve officials and U.S. economic data
continued to support expectations that the U.S. central bank may
raise interest rates in December.
U.S. consumer sentiment beat forecasts, gaining for the
second straight month and showed an improvement in buying plans
for large discretionary purchases, especially vehicles.
Other U.S. data on Friday, including a weaker-than-expected
retail sales report and a second straight monthly decline in
producer prices, failed to knock the dollar. The soft inflation
and signs of slowing consumer spending appeared unlikely to
deter the Fed from a rate hike next month, economists said.
"Retail sales were disappointing again, but we've seen
consistently these numbers disappoint over the past little
while," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotia
Capital in Toronto.
"It does look as if consumer demand has gotten off to a
fairly sluggish start in the quarter, but the general backdrop I
would imagine for the consumer is still quite constructive in
the U.S."
Comments from Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer late Thursday
and from Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester on Friday
underpinned the widely held belief that the Fed intends to raise
rates at its next meeting in December.
Fischer told a conference at the Fed Board he expects U.S.
inflation to rebound next year and noted the Fed could raise
rates soon. Mester, who is not a voter on the Fed's rate-setting
committee this year but will be in 2016, said America's labor
market appears near full strength and that the time to hike is
"quickly approaching."
The dollar firmed nearly 1 percent against both the euro and
Swiss franc on the day.
In late trading, the euro EUR= , was down 0.7 percent to
$1.0739, reversing gains seen in the last two sessions. On the
week, however, the euro was little changed.
Versus the Swiss franc, the dollar gained 0.7
percent, moving to 1.0067 francs. It was headed for a modest 0.1
percent weekly gain.
The dollar also moved higher on the day against the yen
JPY= , sterling and the Swedish and Norwegian
crowns NOK= . It was also up against the Canadian,
Australian and New Zealand NZD=D4 dollars.
The dollar index .DXY , which measures the dollar against a
basket of other major currencies, rose 0.3 percent to 98.948.
The index is down about 0.2 percent this week as profit-taking
sent it lower earlier in the week.