They said, however, that trading was subdued with many players sitting on their hands due to the Memorial Day holiday in the United States.

The dollar stood at 121.67 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down slightly from 121.74 yen in New York late on Friday.

The euro was higher at 1.3456 dollars after 1.3438 dollars and at 163.68 yen from 163.64 yen.

The dollar extended losses against the euro in the wake of an industry report released Friday that showed US home sales fell to their lowest level in almost four years last month.

The National Association of Realtors said existing home sales dropped 2.6 percent to an annualized pace of 5.99 million in April, a second straight monthly decline and the lowest level since June 2003.

But dealers noted that the dollar had remained relatively resilient in the face of the soft data, gaining on the yen in overseas trade on Friday.