london nov 19 reuters  the dollar was on track for a fourth straight week of gains against major rival currencies on friday as traders wager on interest rates rising faster in the united states amid surging inflation around the world the euro has been one of the biggest losers versus the greenback set to fall around 1 this week as european central bank president christine lagarde has pushed back against expectations of policy tightening in the eurozone lagarde doubled down on her position on friday saying the ecb should not tighten policy as it could choke off recovery the euro was last down 05 on the day at 113195 the overall dollar index which tracks the dollar against a basket of six major currencies is on course for around a 09 weekly gain the dollar was up 04 on the day at 95899 close to the 16month high of 96266 hit on wednesday expectations are growing that the dollar can strengthen further into next year we think a combination of fed tapering and slowing global growth should favour the us dollar in 2022 analysts at ubs said in an outlook report this week us retail sales beat expectations after last weeks inflation surprise in europe meanwhile governments are battling a surge in covid19 cases and economic data has been mixed previous postgfc occasions when the euro traded below 110 were accompanied by a big euro short position said societe generale strategist kit juckes if the question is will the market now get very short euros then i think the answer is that it will unless data improve dramatically the japanese yen weakened slightly against the dollar after a fresh 557 trillion yen 490 billion stimulus package was unveiled by japans government read more the dollar was last up 02 against the yen at 114490 yen sterling shed some of its recent gains last down 04 at 134440 in cryptocurrencies bitcoin is below 60000 and set for its worst week in six months  last trading around 57500 reporting by iain withers additional reporting by tom westbrook in sydney editing by peter graff