"A lot of people will like to see whether there are inflation pressures building in the (US) retail sector," said Ryan Shea, senior market strategist at State Street Global Markets. "I think it's very clear that it's only so long that companies can sustain compression on their profit margins," Shea added.
Investors drove up the kiwi dollar - which has the highest interest rates in developed economies of 6.5 percent - to its highest level since 1983 as they refocused on carry trades to get instant returns in a sideways market.
"At the moment the market perceives not much event risk. The euro/dollar and dollar/yen are going sideways and volatility is falling. This is making carry trades more attractive," said Bilal Hafeez, currency strategist at Deutsche Bank.
"We've also had good data from New Zealand recently which is leading to greater expectations of higher interest rates there." At 1540 GMT the dollar was up 0.13 percent on the day at $1.3054 per euro and steady at 105.60 per yen.
This meant the dollar was about six cents up from record lows versus the euro set in December and three cents below a three-month high set in February.
The euro held near last week's 1-1/2 month high versus the yen as the Japanese currency continued to suffer from deteriorating sentiment towards Japan's economy after data showed it was in a recession for the best part of 2004.
The New Zealand dollar hit its highest level since early 1983 at US $0.7279. It was also at its highest level in seven years against the yen, at 76.82 yen.