The greenback bought 93.73 yen, up from 93.36 yen in late North American trading Thursday, with a Dow Jones Newswires report attributing some of the yen's weakness to Japanese importers buying euros and dollars for month-end settlements.
The euro also lost ground against the U.S. unit, buying $1.4351, down from $1.4364 late Thursday. A Reuters report cited profit-taking by European banks after the dollar hit a monthly low the previous day.
Sterling rose, however, with the British pound changing hands for $1.6276, up from $1.6230 in North American trade.
The dollar index (DXY 78.11, +0.11, +0.14%) , which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 78.10, up from 78.00 late Thursday.
