The U.S. dollar drew strength from rising Treasury yields on Thursday, adding pressure to the pound and euro, while the yen edged up from recent lows, and the market waited for clarity on possible Trump tariffs.

The doom and gloom for Aussie retailers has temporarily subsided, as shoppers returned in droves during the Black Friday sales.

Australia retail activity jumped in November, supported by Black Friday sales and widespread discounting ahead of Christmas.

Emergency workers toiling to clean up an oil spill in the Black Sea have detected seven new slicks, a Russian official told the TASS state news agency on Friday, as authorities struggle to mitigate the effects of the nearly month-old disaster.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that more needed to be done to clean up an oil spill in the Black Sea, saying efforts so far appeared to have been insufficient to deal with the ecological disaster.

Fresh oil started pouring from a stricken Russian tanker in the Black Sea on Friday, said officials in Moscow, as Ukraine warned of "terrible environmental consequences" from the spill.By trying to "conceal the terrible environmental consequences" Moscow had left the entire Black Sea region vulnerable to the fallout,