The euro's tumble against the dollar has helped shore up the yen. After hitting a six-month high of 111.73 yen at one time Feb. 22 in Tokyo, the dollar has given up much of its recent gains.

Triggering the euro's fall last week were comments by Christian Noyer, vice president of the European Central Bank.

Noyer said the market had read too much into the ECB's monthly bulletin, dampening expectations the ECB would soon raise interest rates again. Behind the yen's weakness in recent weeks were widening interest rate differentials between Japan and other nations.