The yen weakened before a U.S. report that economists said will show retail sales rose for a third month, reducing demand for the safety of Japan’s currency. The yen declined against all 16 of its major counterparts as European stocks advanced. Sales in the world’s largest economy increased 0.8 percent in September, after a 0.9 percent gain in August, according to the median prediction of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The pound fell against the dollar before a report that economists said will show U.K. inflation slowed, strengthening the case for more asset purchases. Japan’s currency slid 0.2 percent to 78.62 per dollar at 9:32 a.m. London time. The yen weakened 0.3 percent to 101.92 per euro. The pound dropped less than 0.1 percent to $1.6066. The yen has fallen 4.5 percent this year, the worst performance among the 10 developed-nation currencies tracked by Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes. The dollar and the euro both slipped 2.2 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index of shares gained 0.5 percent and futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.4 percent. To contact the reporters on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Dobson at pdobson2@bloomberg.net

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