The dollar bought 94.06 yen, down from 94.51 yen in late North American trading Monday, as the Japanese unit outpaced the greenback as a safe-haven play.
The yen gains came as Asian equities sold off, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Average closing down 0.8%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 1.1% in late trade and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 ending off 0.5%.
The euro, however, was buying $1.4264, down from $1.4297 late Monday, adding to its losses against the dollar so far this week.
As a result, the dollar index (DXY 78.38, +0.11, +0.14%) , which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was little changed, inching down to 78.22 from 78.23 late Monday.
The forex market was unmoved by widely expected news that President Barack Obama plans to reappoint Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
