The yen fell to a six-month low versus the dollar after reports showed manufacturing in China, Europe, and the U.K. expanded last month, driving demand for risk and underscoring Japan's currency's role in the carry trade.

Japan's currency weakened against most of its 16 major counterparts as Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the Bank of Japan will keep monetary policy accommodative until inflation is stable at 2 percent. The pound reached the strongest level since January against the euro after a gauge of U.K. manufacturing increased in November at a faster pace than analysts forecast. New Zealand's dollar rallied, while Canada's currency traded at the weakest level since October 2011.

"I've been bullish dollar for the past few weeks against most currencies, and the yen is certainly is doing what he government wants it to do," Fabian Eliasson, head of U.S. currency sales in New York at Mizuho Financial Group Inc., said in a phone interview.