* Dollar edges higher vs yen on commercial demand
* Australia, New Zealand and UK on holiday
* U.S. Treasury yields in focus due to auctions
By Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The dollar rose against the yen and held near a recent high on the euro on Monday, helped by demand from Japanese corporates before the year-end, with eyes on U.S. data and Treasury auctions to see if it can maintain the rally.
Traders in Tokyo said there was little market impact from news over the holiday weekend of an attempt to blow up a passenger plane flying to Detroit but they were keeping an eye out for further developments.
Share markets that were open in the region, where some centres including Australia are still on holiday, rose and U.S. Treasury futures held steady in early trade.
Monday is the last business day of the year for many Japanese companies, which resume on Jan. 4. The focus for many is whether the dollar will continue to rise next month after its rebound from a 14-year low on the yen in November.
"Market participants want to find the market direction for the new year after the typical year-end dollar buying back waned," said Akira Hoshino, chief manager at foreign exchange trading department at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The dollar index, a gauge of its performance against six other major currencies, rose 0.3 percent to 77.839, off a 3-1/2-month high of 78.449 set last week.
The dollar was at 91.66 yen. It traded sporadically on Friday after ending at around 91.50 yen on Thursday, below a two-month high of 91.88 yen set last week led as investors covered short dollar positions for the year-end.
U.S. markets reopen later on Monday but British markets remain closed.
Traders are looking to see if U.S. Treasury yields continue to rise, with a total of $118 billion of auctions due this week.
The two-year auction on Monday could set the tone for the Treasury market this week, analysts said.
"Higher yields could support the dollar against the yen at least as an initial reaction. But if supply worries emerge, the dollar could be weighed down," Hoshino said.
Other incentives this week could include Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index for October and the U.S. consumer confidence for December on Tuesday.
But players will likely mostly stay on the sidelines until the U.S. employment report for December comes out on Jan. 8, traders said.
The euro slipped to $1.4361, after falling as far as $1.4218 last week, its lowest since early September. In holiday-thinned trade on Friday it climbed as high as $1.4437 on trading platform EBS. (Editing by Michael Watson)