(Reuters) - The dollar rose to a one-month high against the yen on Thursday, extending gains after recent upbeat U.S. data pushed Treasury yields higher and cooled expectations of further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve. The dollar climbed on stop-loss buying, extending a rally begun earlier this week after strong retail sales data led some analysts to suggest a slowdown in U.S. growth may be temporary. Currency traders said that if U.S. Treasury yields rose further the dollar could add to gains against the yen given the strong relationship the currency pair has with yield spreads between U.S. and Japanese government bonds. Higher U.S. yields usually widen the spread over JGBs and lift the dollar. The greenback touched a high of 79.361 yen on trading platform EBS, its highest since mid-July, and advanced past its 200-day moving average of 79.20. The dollar last changed hands at 79.22 yen, up 0.3 percent on the day. The dollar index .DXY which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, rose to a two-week high of 82.881. "We are seeing an underlying trend for dollar outperformance, partly on the back of euro zone debt problems, which sees reserve managers prefer the U.S. currency, and more generally due to some decent U.S. data," said Geoff Kendrick, currency analyst at Nomura. "Dollar/yen could rise to 80 yen, but a lot depends how forthcoming U.S. data is and whether Treasuries will continue to be sold off." Data on Wednesday showed U.S. industrial output rose in July at its fastest pace since April. This followed surprisingly strong U.S. retail sales figures that dampened expectations the Fed will launch another round of bond-buying, or quantitative easing, as early as September. On Thursday, the latest weekly initial claims report and the Philly Fed survey of factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region for August will be watched to assess whether the world's largest economy is regaining momentum in the third quarter. "The U.S. improvement is in contrast to the persistent weakness elsewhere," said Callum Henderson, global head of FX research at Standard Chartered, Singapore. "So that's dollar positive because (interest) rate spreads move in favor of the dollar," he said, adding that the dollar may rise towards 80 yen in the short term. FALSE DAWN? Some analysts warned, however, that the dollar's rise versus the yen could lose steam if coming U.S. indicators disappoint. Not all of Wednesday's data was rosy. A gauge of manufacturing in New York state in August showed a contraction for the first time since October 2011. "It's too early to celebrate with both hands in the air," said Daisuke Karakama, market economist for Mizuho Corporate Bank in Tokyo. In any event, the dollar will find it tough to break above the 79.50 yen to 80.00 yen region unless there is another strong catalyst, given the potential for dollar-selling by Japanese exporters at such levels, Karakama added. The dollar's gains saw the euro slip. The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.2263, although expectations that the European Central Bank would buy bonds to reduce the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy would limit losses A Reuters poll in early August showed the ECB was seen likely to begin buying Italian and Spanish bonds in September, and to cut its main refinancing rate to a record low of 0.5 percent.

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