The dollar was higher against the euro and yen in Asian trading Friday morning, following through on its strength in New York as oil prices continued their upward momentum.
The dollar was trading at 104.64 yen late morning in Tokyo, up 0.47 yen from late Thursday and above the 104.53 yen it bought in New York later that day.
The currency also strengthened against the euro, to $1.3375 from $1.3396 late Thursday. The euro rose to 140 yen from 139.60 yen.
The yen came under pressure due to crude oil prices surging to new record levels. Japan meets its oil needs almost entirely through imports and the nation's currency is sensitive to oil price movements.
Benchmark light sweet crude for April delivery on Thursday rose to a new intraday high of $57.60 per barrel before retreating to settle at $56.40, a decline of 6 cents that traders attributed to profit-taking.
The dollar was mostly flat to lower against other regional currencies Friday morning. The greenback was slightly down against the Philippine peso and South Korean won, and was unchanged against Singapore dollar and Thai baht.
The dollar bought $1.9241 British pounds, compared with $1.9262 the previous day. The dollar also edged up to 1.1565 Swiss francs from 1.1527, but slipped a bit to 1.2012 Canadian dollars from 1.2037 in late trade Thursday in New York.
Many players avoided major trade ahead of the releases in the United States later Friday of February import prices and the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, as well as Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's speech on community development.