Investors bet on a recovery of the US economy today, sparking a strong technology-led stock rally in Asia and boosting the dollar to a three-week high against the yen.
A $15.2 billion takeover of Conoco by Phillips Petroleum to create the largest US oil refiner promised to liven up Wall Street trade in a week when the Thanksgiving holiday had been expected to drain volume from global markets.
US bonds were a shade firmer in Tokyo after six days of declines, and oil prices remained depressed on OPEC's failure to agree production cuts.
The gains in the dollar reflected the mood across most of the markets, as people continued to return to riskier investments following the success of the US-led attacks against Afghanistan's Taliban.
"We're still seeing an increase in risk appetite, which is favourable for the dollar," said Mr Steve Brice, a senior economist at Standard Chartered in Singapore.
"And there's a general view that the US authorities have been much more aggressive in dealing with their economic problems than elsewhere," he said.
Hopes of a recovery for the world's largest economy persisted despite gloomy industrial production data that left the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq down slightly at 9,866.99 and 1,898.58, respectively.
Dollar buyers took reassurance from the progress in the campaign in Afghanistan, while yen sellers were counting on unease over the health of the Japanese banking sector, with many banks due to report results this week and next.
The euro has to weather a key German business survey and gross domestic product reports from France and Germany this week, none of which are expected to be particularly supportive for the currency.